Mo  dern 


Henry  Smith 
rilliams,M.D.,LLD. 


MODERN  WARFARE 


MODERN  WARFARE 


By 
HENRY   SMITH   WILLIAMS,    M.D.,  LL.D. 

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF  OF 

"The  Historians'  History  of  the  World'* 
and 

EDWARD  HUNTINGTON  WILLIAMS,   M.D. 
Associate  Editor  of  the  Encyclopaedia  Britannica  (Tenth  Edition) 


ILLUSTRATED 


NEW  YORK 
HEARST'S   INTERNATIONAL   LIBRARY   CO. 


Copyright,  1915,  by 
HEARST'S  INTERNATIONAL  LIBRARY  Co.,  INC. 


All  rights  reserved,  including  that  of  translation  into  the 
foreign  languages,  including  the  Scandinavian 


THE    QUINN    &    800EN    CO.    PRESS 
RAMVVAY,   N.  J, 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

INTRODUCTION ix 

I    THE  INTRODUCTION  OF  FIREARMS  .       .  1 

II    THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  SMALL  ARMS     .  19 

III  PROJECTILES  AND  ARMOR        ...  41 

IV  PROGRESS  IN  NAVAL  GUNS  AND  PROJEC- 

TILES TO  THE  TlME  OF  THE  BREECH- 
LOADER      59 

V    BREECH-LOADING  SMALL  ARMS      .       .  78 

VI    TORPEDOES,  MINES,  AND  TORPEDO  BOATS  110 

VII    MODERN  BREECH-LOADING  CANNON       .  136 

VIII    GUN  SIGHTS  AND  EANGE  FINDERS        .  178 

IX    THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  BATTLE  SHIP  195 

X    THE  BATTLE  SHIP  OF  TO-DAY        .       .  223 

XI    GRAPPLING  WITH  DISEASE      .       .       .  241- 

XII    MODERN  EXPLOSIVES       ....  259 

XIII    SUBMARINE  AND  AERIAL  WARFARE        .  281 

INDEX  303 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Zeppelin  over  Army  Aviation  Field — Air- 
ship Destroyer       .       .       .     Frontispiece 

FACING 
PAGE 

The  Evolution  of  the  Pistol  ....  26 
H.  M.  S.  Thunderer  Leaves  the  Thames  to  be 

Commissioned 74 

The  Evolution  of  the  Military  Rifle  .  .  104 

A  "Flying  Fish "  Torpedo  ....  120 

Eighteenth  Century  Cannon  ....  136 

Loading  a  Fourteen-inch  Cannon  .  .  .  144 
British  with  Machine  Guns,  Lewis  Machine 

Gun 152 

U.  S.  Army  Mortar  for  Coast  Defense  .  .  168 
Monster  Coast  Defense  Gun  of  England  on 

the  Straits  of  Dover 176 

Fourteen-inch  Sandy  Hook  Gun  .  .  .  184 
Naval  Combat  Between  the  Monitor  and  M er- 

rimac,  Hampton  Koads,  March  9,  1862  .  200 
Part  of  the  Gun  Crew  of  the  U.  S.  S. 

Wyoming 232 

The  Automobile  in  Modern  Warfare  .  .  248 

French  Death  Mowing  Machines  .  .  .  280 

Armored  Aeroplane  with  Machine  Gun  .  296 


INTRODUCTION 

A/)NG  in  the  Middle  Ages,  three  revolution- 
ary mechanisms  or  inventions  were  intro- 
duced in  Europe.  One  was  the  mariner's 
compass,  which  opened  up  new  geographical 
worlds.  The  second  was  the  printing  press,  which 
prepared  the  way  for  the  diffusion  of  knowledge. 
The  third  was  gunpowder,  which  transformed  the 
destructive  but  ever-prevalent  industry  of  war- 
fare. 

A  mediaeval  optimist  might  have  prophesied 
that  the  compass  would  open  up  new  fields  to  the 
colonist  and  relieve  the  economic  pressure  that  is 
the  underlying  cause  of  wars ;  and  that  the  print- 
ing press  would  so  diffuse  culture  that  men  would 
become  too  intelligent  to  waste  time,  energy,  and 
money  in  wholesale  mutual  murder — hence  that 
the  invention  of  gunpowder  must  prove  a  matter 
of  slight  significance. 

But  such  an  optimist  would  indeed  have  been  a 
false  prophet.  For,  as  the  event  was  to  prove,  the 
opening  up  of  new  geographical  territories  im- 
plied new  regions  to  be  conquered  and  fought  for ; 
improved  economic  conditions  enabled  popula- 
tions to  double  and  quadruple,  that  there  might 
be  more  human  material  for  slaughter;  and  the 
spread  of  knowledge  insured  only  that  destruc- 
tive mechanisms  should  be  devised  more  cunningly 

[ix] 


INTRODUCTION 

to  carry  forward  the  mission  of  carnage  on  land 
and  sea — ultimately  even  in  the  air  above  and  in 
the  water  under  the  earth. 

And  in  determining  the  character  of  these 
mechanisms  of  offensive  and  defensive  warfare, 
the  new  invention,  gunpowder,  was  to  be  the  chief 
factor  for  several  centuries,  until  gunpowder  it- 
self was  superseded,  as  the  chief  agent  of  destruc- 
tion, by  other  explosives  that  were,  so  to  speak, 
its  lineal  descendants. 

So  the  history  of  modern  warfare  naturally  be- 
gins with  the  story  of  the  introduction  of  this  all- 
important  agent  of  destruction. 

Hitherto,  arrow  and  lance  and  sword  had  been 
matched  from  time  immemorial  against  portable 
shield  and  vestment  armor.  Hand-swung  batter- 
ing ram  and  catapult-hurled  stones  were  matched 
against  relatively  feeble  fortresses  that  none  the 
less  proved  impregnable.  Battles  were  hand-to- 
hand  conflicts,  where  individual  prowess  had  full 
scope,  and  where  the  warrior  with  physical 
strength  to  bear  armor  of  extra  weight  and  to 
wield  a  sword  or  lance  heavier  than  the  average 
became  the  hero  of  his  allies  and  the  terror  of 
the  enemy. 

But  gunpowder  changed  all  that.  The  simple 
mixture  of  charcoal  and  sulphur  and  saltpeter 
(nitrate  of  potash),  with  its  curious  capacity  to 
change  suddenly  into  a  gas  if  ignited,  proved  it- 
self the  most  wonderful  of  social  levelers.  As  a 
democratizing  influence  the  explosive  far  sur- 
passed the  printing  press.  At  a  single  puff,  it 


INTRODUCTION 

unhorsed  the  proud  and  arrogant  knight,  made 
his  armor  worse  than  useless;  his  death-dealing 
sword  and  lance  became  ineffectual  incumbrances. 
So  the  picturesque  paraphernalia  of  the  knight- 
errant  that  had  rendered  mediaeval  warfare  at 
once  spectacular  and  relatively  harmless  was 
relegated  to  the  junk  heap,  whither  longbow  and 
arquebus  presently  followed  it ;  the  despised  foot 
soldier  supplanted  the  cavalryman  as  the  really 
effective  agent  in  the  fighting  mechanism;  and 
presently  an  artillery  service  was  developed  of 
which  antecedently  there  had  been  only  the  faint- 
est adumbration  in  the  cumbrous  and  ineffective 
battering  ram  and  catapult. 

Of  the  entire  equipment  of  the  mediaeval  soldier, 
only  the  sword  remained  virtually  unmodified, 
and  this  rather  as  an  ornament  than  as  a  weapon 
of  service;  although  the  pike  might  be  said  to 
persist  in  the  modified  form  of  bayonet  and  lance 
as  accessory  to  the  work  of  the  firearms  at  close 
quarters. 

Even  to  this  day,  to  be  sure — since  no  social 
change  is  altogether  metamorphic — there  are 
troops  of  cavalry  that  retain  somewhat  the  ap- 
pearance and  a  reminiscence  of  the  equipment  of 
the  armored,  lance-bearing  horsemen  of  knightly 
tradition ;  but  these  constitute  only  a  fringe  on  the 
great  military  fabric,  the  body  of  which  is  made 
up  of  bearers  of  the  death-dealing  musket  and 
rifle.  Human  ingenuity  has  gone  far  in  the  en- 
deavor to  find  more  and  more  effective  weapons 
for  the  kilh'ng  of  men,  until  the  range  of  projec- 

[xi] 


INTRODUCTION 

tiles  is  measured  in  miles;  the  power  of  explosives 
is  appalling,  the  cost  of  armaments  prodigious 
beyond  the  wildest  dreams  of  ancient  spendthrift 
governments ;  and  the  toll  of  human  lives  ghastly 
beyond  the  wildest  nightmares  of  an  Alexander  or 
a  Caesar  or  a  Jenghiz  Khan. 

It  is  difficult  to  contemplate  the  subject  without 
adverting  to  its  moral  aspects;  but  these  speak 
for  themselves,  and  do  not  fall  within  the  scope 
of  the  present  inquiry.  In  the  ensuing  chapters 
we  are  not  concerned  with  warfare  in  its  socio- 
logical or  its  economic  aspects ;  but  solely  with  the 
art  of  war  on  its  mechanical  side.  It  is  the  story 
of  human  ingenuity  in  its  application  to  the  de- 
velopment of  the  mechanisms  of  warfare — offen- 
sive and  defensive — in  modern  times  that  will 
claim  our  attention.  And  assuredly  it  is  a  story 
not  lacking  in  human  interest. 


i[  xii  ] 


MODERN  WARFARE 


MODERN    WARFARE 


THE  INTRODUCTION  OF  FIREARMS 

IT  is  rather  curious  that  the  invention  of  gun- 
powder is  wrapped  in  obscurity.  Even  the 
time  of  its  introduction  into  warfare  cannot 
be  definitely  established. 

As  an  explosive,  some  mixture  resembling  gun- 
powder had  been  known  for  many  centuries  before 
its  employment  as  a  propelling  agent.  It  has  been 
suggested  even  that  the  ancients  were  familiar, 
not  only  with  the  explosive  qualities  of  such  a 
substance,  but  also  with  its  use  for  projecting 
missiles. 

The  obscurity  of  the  writings  which  are  the 
foundations  of  such  beliefs,  however,  and  the  dif- 
ferent interpretations  that  may  be  given  them, 
make  any  positive  assertion  that  gunpowder,  as 
a  propelling  agent,  was  known  before  the  late 
Middle  Ages  untenable.  Yet  some  of  the  classical 
references  are  not  without  interest. 

For  example,  Virgil  tells  of  Salmoneus,  king 
of  Elis,  who  was  slain  by  Jupiter  for  his  audacity 
in  attempting  to  imitate  thunder  and  lightning. 
By  some  this  is  thought  to  show  that  Salmoneus 
had  discovered  some  explosive  compound  like 


MODERN  WARFARE 

gunpowder,  and  was  killed  by  an  accidental  ex- 
plosion, his  death  being  interpreted  as  a  punish- 
ment of  the  god  of  thunder. 

Dion  Cassius  in  his  History  of  Rome  tells  of 
engines  used  by  Caligula  which  imitated  thunder 
and  lightning  and  hurled  stones.  Alexander  the 
Great  is  thought  by  certain  authors  to  have  en- 
countered firearms  in  his  Indian  campaign;  and 
Archimedes  is  credited  with  having  employed 
something  resembling  gunpowder  among  the 
other  ingenious  methods  invented,  or  adapted,  by 
him  in  the  defense  of  Syracuse. 

But  all  these  alleged  sources  are  lacking  in 
authenticity.  There  is  a  great  confusion  in  the 
interpretations  of  the  ancient  and  mediaeval  litera- 
ture on  the  subject,  and  it  is  easily  supposable 
that  many  of  the  references  interpreted  as  mean- 
ing explosives,  or  as  propelling  agents,  really 
refer  to  substances  like  Greek  fire,  a  description 
of  which  might  be  easily  construed  as  referring 
to  gunpowder. 

The  Chinese  were  long  credited  with  having 
first  invented  gunpowder,  and  it  is  probable  that 
some  explosive  mixture  was  known  to  them  for 
many  centuries  before  it  was  known  in  Europe. 
They  did  not  utilize  this  knowledge  in  producing 
engines  for  propulsion,  however,  and  their  knowl- 
edge of  an  explosive,  if  they  possessed  such 
knowledge,  plays  no  part  in  the  history  of  fire- 
arms. 

It  is  probable  that  gunpowder  was  used  in  war 
in  the  form  of  rockets  or  shells  some  time  before 

[2] 


THE  INTRODUCTION  OF  FIREARMS 

it  was  used  as  a  propelling  agent.  The  Arabs 
are  supposed  to  have  used  it  in  this  manner,  and 
a  document  still  in  existence,  written  in  1250, 
describes  such  weapons.  Ferarius,  a  Spanish 
monk  and  a  contemporary  of  Roger  Bacon,  wrote 
a  treatise  on  Greek  fire,  rockets,  and  "  thunder  " 
which  is  still  preserved  in  the  Bodleian  Library 
at  Oxford;  and  it  was  possibly  from  this  source 
that  Eoger  Bacon  became  acquainted  with  a  com- 
pound which  he  described,  and  which  he  has  some- 
times been  credited  with  inventing.  It  seems 
more  likely,  however,  that  his  knowledge  was  ob- 
tained from  the  Arabs. 

But  the  mere  invention  of  gunpowder,  as  such, 
is  of  little  importance  compared  with  its  applica- 
tion as  a  propellant.  This  use  seems  to  have  been 
first  made  either  by  the  Moors  or  Saracens. 
Ismail,  king  of  Granada,  is  believed  to  have  used 
cannon  at  the  siege  of  Baza  in  1325 ;  but  probably 
the  first  reliable  contemporary  account  of  this  use 
is  a  document  still  in  existence,  written  in  1326. 
This  document,  although  not  describing  the  actual 
use  of  firearms,  refers  to  their  manufacture 
specifically  in  a  manner  quite  unequivocal. 

It  is  certain,  therefore,  that  by  the  time  of  the 
battle  of  Crecy,  in  1346,  firearms  were  known, 
and  there  is  some  ground  for  believing  that  the 
English  used  cannon  at  that  battle.  It  is  equally 
certain,  however,  that  any  part  played  by  cannon 
in  determining  the  issue  at  Crecy  was  a  minor 
one.  But  by  the  end  of  the  fourteenth  century 
cannon  had  become  recognized  weapons  of  war- 

[3] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

fare,  and  the  development  of  small  arms  in  tlie 
form  of  hand  cannon  is  known  to  have  kept  pace 
with  the  development  of  the  heavier  weapons. 


THE    PRIMITIVE    CANNON 

It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  most  of  the  early 
cannon,  and  possibly  all  of  them,  were  breech- 
loaders; yet  these  were  quickly  replaced  by  muz- 
zle-loading cannon  and  the  system  of  breech-load- 
ing was  not  reintroduced  to  any  extent  until  after 
the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century.  The  breech 
mechanism  of  the  early  cannon  was  so  clumsy  and 
unsatisfactory  that  once  the  muzzle-loader  came 
into  use  it  held  its  place,  practically  without  al- 
teration, for  over  three  centuries. 

The  first  cannon  were  not,  as  a  rule,  made  of  a 
single  piece  of  metal,  cast  or  bored  to  the  proper 
shape,  but  of  strips  of  metal  fastened  together  by 
hoops  of  iron.  Sometimes  other  substances,  such 
as  leather,  were  tried,  and  such  cannon,  made 
with  metal  tubes  wound  with  leather,  were  used 
successfully  by  Gustavus  Adolphus,  as  we  shall 
see  later.  But  such  experiments  soon  proved  un- 
satisfactory, and  iron  cannon  came  gradually  into 
general  use. 

The  mountings  of  the  early  cannon  were  crude 
affairs,  and  mounting  pieces  on  wheels  or  gun 
carriages  was  not  attempted  until  many  years 
after  the  introduction  of  ordnance.  The  earliest 
cannon  were  carried  about  in  carts,  or  on  racks 
carried  by  the  foot  soldiers.  When  in  use  they 

[4] 


THE  INTRODUCTION  OF  FIREARMS 

were  placed  upon  the  ground,  the  required  eleva- 
tion being  obtained  by  blocks  placed  under  the 
muzzle. 

The  impossibility  of  aiming  such  pieces  made 
them  of  little  account  in  the  open  field,  but  against 
fortifications  their  efficiency  was  demonstrated 
from  the  very  beginning. 

The  besieging  artillerymen,  far  beyond  the 
range  of  the  arrows  from  the  ramparts,  or  pro- 
tected by  a  sloping  roof  of  planks,  could  determine 
the  necessary  elevation  with  a  few  discharges, 
and  could  then  batter  to  pieces  the  walls  of  the 
fortress  which  afforded  so  large  a  target  that  the 
projectile  would  seldom  miss  it  once  the  range 
had  been  found. 

This  method  must  have  suggested,  almost  from 
the  first,  the  use  of  the  mortar  for  throwing 
missiles  at  high  angles,  and  crude  mortars  came 
into  use  as  early  as  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth 
century.  It  was  some  time,  however,  before  the 
explosion  of  the  powder  was  utilized  to  light  the 
fuse  of  the  shell.  Indeed,  this  method  of  firing 
the  shell  did  not  come  into  vogue  until  late  in  the 
seventeenth  century.  The  earlier  method  was  for 
the  artillerymen  to  use  two  firebrands,  lighting 
the  fuse  of  the  shell  with  one  hand  and  touching 
off  the  piece  with  the  other. 

IMPROVING  THE   CANNON 

By  the  close  of  the  fourteenth  century  bom- 
bardes  were  in  existence  which  threw  balls  or 

[5] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

stones  weighing  two  hundred  pounds ;  and  by  the 
beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century  many  different 
types  of  cannon  were  in  use. 

Some  of  these  were  made  of  a  number  of  com- 
paratively small  barrels,  fastened  together  and 
mounted  on  rude  carriages.  These  ribaudequms , 
as  they  were  called,  were  the  prototypes  of 
the  modern  mitrailleuse,  many  barreled  cannon. 
Some  of  these  were  made  with  as  many  as  thirty- 
three  separate  barrels,  with  which  a  rapidity 
of  fire  was  possible  that  was  most  disastrous  to 
an  enemy  at  close  range.  But  the  length  of  time 
required  for  reloading  after  each  discharge  more 
than  offset  the  advantages  of  such  weapons. 

India  did  her  full  share  in  the  development  of 
early  cannon,  and  there  is  reason  to  believe  that 
as  early  as  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century 
the  Indians  used  breech-loading  cannon  of  enor- 
mous size. 

One  of  these  immense  guns  was  found  in  the 
bed  of  the  Bagretti  River,  at  Moorshedabad,  in 
Bengal,  in  1850. 

"  The  bore  of  this  colossal  bombard  is  eighteen 
and  one-half  inches  in  diameter,"  says  Chesney, 
' '  and  its  length  twelve  feet,  two  inches,  independ- 
ently of  the  movable  chamber  which  is  four  feet 
two  inches.  The  latter,  which  is  of  the  same  con- 
struction as  the  rest  of  the  piece,  fits  into  the 
frame  when  loaded,  and  seems  to  have  been  se- 
cured by  firmly  lashing  a  set  of  rings  on  each 
portion  to  one  another,  no  doubt  with  the  addi- 
tional support  of  a  block  of  wood,  to  prevent  the 

[6] 


THE  INTRODUCTION  OF  FIREARMS 

breech  from  separating  by  the  force  of  the  explo- 
sion, like  the  pieces  recovered  from  the  '  Mary 
Kose  ';  the  cylinder  as  well  as  the  breech  of  this 
enormous  piece  is  formed  of  massive  longitudinal 
bars  of  wrought  iron,  encircled  by  eleven  powerful 
rings,  encircling  it  at  eleven  inches  apart.  The 
bore  is,  however,  uneven,  being  of  very  rude  work- 
manship. But  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that 
such  pieces  were  intended  for  stone  shot,  to  be 
fired  with  small  charges  of  powder,  which,  im- 
perfect as  is  their  construction,  they  would  doubt- 
less have  borne." 

The  early  Arabian  authors  state  that  cannon 
were  first  used  by  them  in  the  form  of  cylinders 
bored  into  rocks.  These,  of  course,  could  not  be 
used  in  field  operations;  but  in  sieges,  where  a 
favorable  rocky  hillside  faced  the  walls  within 
reasonable  distance — probably  out  of  range  of 
arrows  and  bolts,  but  still  within  gunshot  range — 
such  cylinders  could  be  bored  and  used  as  cannon 
or  mortars  with  telling  effect. 

A  "  cannon  "  of  this  kind  was  constructed  in 
1771  in  the  rock  of  Gibraltar,  the  object  of  its 
construction  being  to  ascertain  what  effect  could 
be  produced  by  such  a  weapon.  The  excavation 
for  this  primitive  mortar  may  still  be  seen  in  the 
rock.  The  bore  is  thirty-six  inches  in  diameter, 
carefully  polished  like  the  muzzle  of  a  mortar, 
and  the  depth  of  the  excavation  is  four  feet.  Of 
course  no  vent  or  touch  hole  could  be  used,  the 
charge  being  exploded  by  a  fuse,  or  through  a 
hollow  tube  placed  in  the  opening. 

[7] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

When  the  "  cannon "  was  discharged  after 
being  loaded  with  loose  stones  of  various  sizes, 
amounting  to  fifteen  hundred  pounds  in  weight, 
it  propelled  this  load  a  distance  of  five  hundred 
yards,  scattering  the  stones  over  the  surface  of 
the  water. 

Portable  guns  were  slow  in  coming  into  general 
use,  the  clumsiness  of  construction  and  weight 
of  early  ordnance  restricting  the  use  of  artillery 
for  a  long  time  to  siege  operations  and  naval 
equipments.  Charles  VIII  of  France  (1483-1493) 
is  reputed  to  have  first  made  serviceable  the 
cannon  for  field  as  well  as  siege  operations,  by 
mounting  it  on  wheels  which  served  for  transports 
as  well  as  carriages  from  which  the  piece  was 
fired.  Before  this,  even  mounted  cannon  were 
dismounted  and  made  stationary  for  firing,  the 
gun  carriage  only  serving  as  a  means  of  trans- 
port. Charles  also  restricted  his  cannon  to  cer- 
tain calibers,  ranging  from  pieces  mounted  on 
four  wheels  and  drawn  by  thirty  horses  to  light 
pieces  that  could  be  moved  about  almost  as  quickly 
as  cavalry;  but  even  these  lighter  pieces  were 
clumsy  enough  and  of  little  service. 

Gustavus  Adolphus  must  be  credited  with  con- 
structing the  first  practical  portable  cannon,  and 
his  victory  near  Leipzig  in  1631  has  been  ascribed 
partly,  at  least,  to  the  use  of  his  light  and  mobile 
artillery.  These  cannon  were  remarkable  struc- 
tures, as  the  following  description  shows : 

"  His  cannon  consisted  of  a  thin  cylinder  of 
beaten  copper  screwed  into  a  brass  breech,  whose 

[8] 


THE  INTRODUCTION  OF  FIREARMS 

chamber  was  strengthened  by  four  bands  of  iron. 
The  tube  itself  was  covered  with  four  layers  of 
mastic,  over  which  cords  were  rolled  firmly  round 
its  whole  length;  these  were  equalized  by  a  layer 
of  plaster;  and  a  coating  of  leather,  boiled  and 
varnished,  completed  the  piece.  The  carriage 
and  the  piece  were  so  light  that  two  men  were 
sufficient  to  draw  and  serve  this  kind  of  gun, 
which,  as  may  be  imagined,  could  only  bear  a 
small  charge. " 

At  the  battle  of  Leipzig  against  Tilly  this  light 
artillery  turned  defeat  into  victory,  the  early  part 
of  the  engagement  being  favorable  to  Tilly,  owing 
to  his  heavy  artillery. 

"  The  action  began  with  a  cannonade,"  says 
Schiller,  "  which  lasted  two  hours,  and  which, 
owing  to  the  superior  caliber  of  the  guns  of  the 
Imperialists,  was  favorable  to  Tilly;  but  his 
descent  at  the  head  of  his  center,  to  take  advan- 
tage of  this  circumstance,  was  opposed  and  re- 
pulsed by  the  fire  of  thirty  pieces  of  artillery  in 
the  center  of  the  Swedish  line.  Tilly  then  united 
with  his  right  and  fell  on  the  Saxons  with  such 
impetuosity  that  they  took  flight  on  the  first 
shock. 

' '  The  king,  nothing  daunted,  assembled  a  mass 
of  artillery  to  resist  Peppenheim's  attack  on  his 
right  wing,  and  by  the  rapid  fire  of  his  light 
leather  guns,  completely  defeated  him,  notwith- 
standing his  vigorous  and  often  repeated  attacks. 
He  then,  at  the  head  of  the  greater  part  of  his 
army,  took  possession  of  the  heights  previously 

[9] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

occupied  by  the  Imperialists,  and  captured  and 
turned  their  guns  against  themselves,  thus  ob- 
taining a  brilliant  victory  which  opened  all  Ger- 
many to  the  conqueror." 

But  cannon  of  this  construction  were  short- 
lived, and  many  of  Gustavus'  leather  cannon  did 
not  last  through  the  campaign.  They  had  demon- 
strated the  advantages  of  light,  mobile  artillery, 
however,  and  the  beginning  of  the  era  of  light 
field  artillery  dates  from  this  period. 

EUROPEAN    AEMIES    IN    THE    TRANSITION    PERIOD 

Fully  to  understand  the  progress  of  firearms 
in  changing  methods  of  warfare,  something 
should  be  known  about  the  condition  of  the  armies 
of  the  most  enlightened  nations  at  the  transition 
period  when  firearms  were  gradually  replacing 
the  other  weapons  but  had  not  as  yet  entirely 
supplanted  them.  The  study  of  the  armies  of  the 
Thirty  Years'  War  shows  the  condition  of  armies 
and  arms  during  this  transition  period,  and  is  of 
particular  importance,  as  it  was  during  this  war, 
particularly  under  Gustavus  Adolphus,  that  many 
improvements  were  made,  not  only  in  field  artil- 
lery just  referred  to,  but  in  small  arms  and  in  the 
methods  of  using  them. 

The  armies  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War  bore  little 
resemblance  to  the  armies  of  recent  times.  The 
soldier  went  to  the  war  taking  with  him  his  wife 
and  children. 

This  was  quite  as  true  of  the  superior  officers, 
[10] 


THE  INTRODUCTION  OF  FIREARMS 

staff  officers,  and  knights,  as  it  was  of  the  hum- 
blest private  soldiers  in  the  ranks. 

But  besides  these  incompetents,  there  was  al- 
ways a  train  of  camp  followers, — women  who  fol- 
lowed the  camp,  beggars,  and  criminals,  whose 
number  was  often  greater  than  the  number  of 
fighting  soldiers. 

When  Gustavus  took  command  of  the  army  he 
attempted  to  do  away  with  the  worst  of  these  evils, 
but  he  found  this  an  impossible  task.  The  armies 
numbered  perhaps  forty  thousand  soldiers,  who 
had  with  them  enough  women,  children,  and  camp 
followers  to  swell  the  number  to  something  like 
one  hundred  thousand  persons.  Most  of  these 
had  no  homes  at  all,  or  their  homes  were  in  distant 
countries.  To  dismiss  the  camp  followers  from 
the  army,  taking  with  him  nothing  but  the  fighting 
men,  was  obviously  out  of  the  question.  The 
soldiers  would  have  rebelled  at  once  and  refused 
to  follow  their  leader.  To  leave  the  sixty  thou- 
sand camp  followers  Behind  to  starve  or  to  pillage 
the  country  would  have  been  to  produce  a  state 
of  affairs  fully  as  bad,  if  not  indeed  worse  than, 
the  existing  condition. 

The  most  that  Gustavus  could  hope  to  do,  there- 
fore, was  to  improve  the  condition  rather  than 
revolutionize  it. 

One  of  his  first  steps  was  to  establish  field 
schools  for  the  instruction  of  the  children  in  the 
camp.  Many  of  these  schools  were  established 
and  governed  with  military  discipline,  and  all 
children  of  certain  ages  were  obliged  to  attend 

[11] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

and  receive  instruction.  Freytag  tells  the  story 
of  one  occasion  when  a  cannon  ball  from  the  ar- 
tillery of  the  enemy  fell  among  the  children  who 
were  busy  with  their  lessons,  killing  and  wound- 
ing several. 

Yet  so  accustomed  were  these  children  to  such 
incidents  that  the  survivors  ' '  went  on  doing  their 
arithmetic." 

The  solution  of  the  problem  of  caring  for  the 
little  school  children,  however,  was  an  easy  one 
as  compared  with  the  question  of  controlling  the 
women  and  some  of  the  other  camp  followers, 
perhaps  the  worst  among  these  being  a  class  of 
lawless  boys  too  old  to  attend  the  schools  and 
too  young  as  yet  to  carry  arms.  These  boys  were 
not  the  children  of  the  soldiers,  but  were  homeless 
waifs  who  followed  the  army,  acting  as  pages  or 
servants  to  the  soldiers.  They  were  the  offscour- 
ings of  the  earth,  and  were  a  perennial  source  of 
trouble.  Severe  discipline  was  often  tried  with 
them,  and  they  were  frequently  punished  cruelly 
for  their  misdeeds,  but  this  punishment  had  little 
or  no  effect  in  restraining  them. 

The  outrages  committed  by  these  boys,  camp 
women,  and  baggage  servants  helped  to  make  th3 
passage  of  the  army  more  terrible  in  its  effects 
than  the  battle  itself.  The  following  passage, 
taken  from  a  contemporary  writer,  gives  some 
conception  of  the  outrages  committed  by  these 
followers  of  the  army: 

1 '  When  the  women  and  boys  with  their  soldiers 
forced  their  way  into  a  peasant's  yard  they  fell 

[12] 


THE  INTRODUCTION  OF  FIREARMS 

like  vultures  upon  the  poultry  in  the  yard,  over 
chests  and  boxes;  they  barred  the  doors,  they 
railed,  threatened,  and  tormented;  they  got  into 
the  beds  and  what  they  could  not  consume  or 
plunder  they  destroyed;  if  a  copper  vessel  was 
too  large  to  take  with  them,  they  banged  it  in. 
When  they  broke  up,  they  forced  the  host  to  put 
to  and  drive  them  to  their  next  quarters.  Then 
they  filled  the  carriage  with  clothes,  beds,  and  the 
household  furniture  of  the  peasant,  and  whatever 
they  could  neither  pack  nor  sack  they  rolled  up  in 
their  coats  and  round  their  bodies. 

"  When  the  horses  have  been  harnessed  to  the 
carriage,  women,  children,  and  wenches  fall  upon 
the  carriage  like  a  bevy  of  crows.  The  wench 
who  enters  the  carriage  first  takes  the  best  place, 
then  comes  the  servant  of  her  lord  with  his  bundle 
which  is  so  full  of  stolen  goods  that  a  horse  can 
scarcely  bear  it.  The  wench  takes  her  seat  upon 
it  at  once.  So  they  fall  one  upon  the  other. 

"  If  a  married  woman,  the  wife  of  a  soldier, 
finds  no  place  left  and  has  to  go  on  foot,  she  cries : 
1  Oh,  thou  shameless  wench,  thou,  forsooth,  must 
drive  in  a  carriage,  and  yet  for  many  years  I 
have  been  the  wife  of  a  soldier,  many  a  campaign 
have  I  made  with  him,  and  thou,  slut,  wouldst  lord 
it  over  me.' 

"  The  wenches  and  the  women  then  fall  upon 
one  another,  there  are  blows,  stones  are  thrown, 
and  when  the  baggage  servant  has  tickled  himself 
with  this  spectacle  for  a  while,  the  wife  of  the 
soldier  rushes  to  her  husband,  her  hair  streams 

[13] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

from  her  head,  she  screams  out : i  Look  you,  Hans, 
there  is  a  wretched  wench,  this  fellow's  baggage, 
who  sits  in  the  carriage  and  will  drive,  while  I 
who  am  thy  married  wife  must  go  on  foot.'  The 
soldier  makes  a  plunge  at  the  wench,  would  thrust 
her  down  and  raise  his  wife  to  her  place,  but  the 
fellow  whose  baggage  she  is  comes  up  with  his, 
'  Leave  the  girl  in  peace,  she  is  as  dear  to  me  as 
thy  wedded  wife.'  Then  the  soldiers  fight  among 
one  another:  daggers  are  drawn,  men  are  hacked 
and  pierced  to  death  and  maimed. 

11  This  is  of  course  no  rare  occurrence,  for  on 
the  march  scarce  a  day  goes  by  without  three  or 
four  or  even  ten  soldiers  losing  their  life  and  limb 
for  the  sake  of  their  women. 

11  But  when  this  fracas  is  over,  and  the  woman 
is  perched  aloft,  the  carriages  are  often  so  heavily 
laden  that  the  horses  or  oxen  cannot  move  them 
from  the  spot,  for  as  many  as  ten  or  twelve  women 
and  an  equal  number  of  children,  and  perhaps  six 
boys,  are  seated  among  the  heavy  packages  like 
caterpillars  in  a  cabbage.  And  if  the  horse  cannot 
get  up  the  hill  not  one  of  them  gets  from  the  car- 
riage, for  instantly  the  other  boys  and  wenches 
would  leap  into  their  places,  and  then  there  is  not 
a  devil  alive  who  could  dislodge  them,  for  they 
say:  '  Oho,  the  carriage  is  as  much  for  them  as 
for  others;  but  they  abuse  the  peasant  with  ter- 
rible curses,  follow  him  and  his  cattle  with  blows, 
often  four  or  six  boys  are  round  the  wagon  all 
throwing  and  beating.  So  have  I  seen  oxen  and 
horses  sink  dead  in  their  harness. 

[14] 


THE  INTRODUCTION  OF  FIREARMS 

"  Thus  the  subject  of  the  territorial  lord  has 
himself  to  drive  the  wenches  and  the  goods  and 
chattels  which  they  have  stolen  from  him. 

"  Often  the  wenches  will  not  drive  with  oxen, 
horses  have  then  to  be  procured  over  a  distance 
of  six  miles  to  the  great  expense  of  the  country 
people,  and  if  they  reach  the  next  quarter  with  the 
equipage  they  do  not  let  the  poor  people  return  to 
their  homes,  but  they  drag  them  away  with  them 
to  be  the  slaves  of  other  masters,  finally  they  steal 
their  horses  from  them,  and  with  their  aid  make 
themselves  scarce." 

The  surprising  thing  is,  not  that  Gustavus  was 
able  to  do  no  better  in  developing  his  army  out  of 
such  material  and  under  such  conditions,  but  that 
he  could  do  so  well. 

OTHER  EEFOEMS   DUE   TO  GUSTAVUS 

As  already  noted,  Gustavus  invented  his  re- 
markable leather  cannon  during  this  war,  and 
revolutionized  field  artillery  with  them;  but  he 
did  almost  as  much  in  improving  the  muskets  of 
the  time,  and  in  the  same  way — by  lightening 
them. 

The  old  match-lock  musket,  or  Gabelmusket,  as 
it  was  called,  was  over  six  feet  in  length,  and  fired 
a  ball  weighing  one-tenth  of  a  pound.  Besides 
this  ponderous  weapon  the  musketeer  carried  a 
sword,  a  broad  bandolier  with  eleven  pouches  for 
ammunition,  and  a  stick  with  metal  point  and  sur- 
mounted by  two  metal  horns  on  which  he  rested 

[15] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

the  gun  in  firing.  For  protection  lie  still  wore  the 
heavy  metal  helmet. 

Thus  burdened,  the  musketeers  obviously  could 
not  move  quickly  from  place  to  place.  Gustavus 
increased  their  mobility  and  effectiveness  by 
lightening  all  of  their  equipment.  He  shortened 
the  guns  and  lessened  their  caliber  so  that  the 
forked  stick  was  no  longer  necessary;  and  he  re- 
placed the  flapping  bandoliers  with  paper  car- 
tridges carried  in  a  pouch  like  the  modern  car- 
tridge box. 

So  the  musketeers  became  at  once  a  more  im- 
portant branch  of  the  service.  They  could  load 
and  fire  more  rapidly,  carried  more  ammunition, 
and  could  move  about  as  quickly  as  any  un- 
mounted troops.  They  were  still  vulnerable  to 
light  cavalry  which  could  move  quickly  to  the  at- 
tack, but  they  soon  demonstrated  their  superiority 
over  the  old-fashioned  heavy  armored  horsemen, 
plumed  and  armed  with  the  traditional  lance, 
causing  that  type  of  trooper  to  disappear  forever 
from  battlefields. 

To  resist  the  attacks  of  cavalry  and  for  close 
fighting  the  old-fashioned  heavily  armed  muske- 
teer had  required  the  support  of  the  pikeman. 
But  with  the  advent  of  the  more  lightly  equipped 
musketeers,  the  pikemen  became  a  useless  branch 
of  the  service.  They  were  too  heavily  equipped  to 
move  rapidly,  either  to  attack  or  repel  an  attack, 
and,  because  of  the  general  lightening  of  the 
equipment  of  the  other  soldiers,  they  became  prac- 
tically useless  before  the  end  of  the  war.  They 

[16] 


THE  INTRODUCTION  OF  FIREARMS 

did  not  entirely  disappear,  however,  until  the  end 
of  the  seventeenth  century. 

A  contemporary  chronicler  of  this  time  thus 
expresses  the  view  of  the  unfortunate  pikeman : 

1 1  A  musketeer  is  truly  a  much  vexed,  miserable 
creature,  but  compared  with  a  wretched  pikeman 
his  life  is  splendid  and  happy.  It  maketh  a  man 
sulky  to  think  what  these  good  kerns  endure  of 
adversity;  not  a  man  will  believe  it  who  hath  not 
himself  been  through  the  lesson,  and  I  am  of 
opinion  that  he  who  lays  low  a  pikeman  whom  he 
might  spare,  murdereth  an  innocent  man  and  can 
never  again  make  good  such  a  death  blow.  For 
although  these  poor,  burden-shoving  oxen — such 
is  the  contemptuous  name  by  which  they  are  called 
—were  created  to  protect  their  brigades  from  the 
onslaught  of  cavalry  in  the  open  field,  yet  on  their 
own  account  they  do  never  a  harm  to  anybody, 
and  it  is  the  fellow's  own  fault  who  runneth 
against  the  long  pike  of  any  one  of  them.  In 
shortr  I  have  seen  many  sharp  encounters  in  my 
days,  but  rarely  have  I  known  a  pikeman  to  be 
the  ruin  of  anybody. " 

The  cavalry  gained  in  importance  as  it  was 
lightened  in  equipment,  and  Gustavus  took  active 
steps  in  introducing  and  encouraging  lighter 
horsemen. 

In  the  German  armies  before  the  time  of  Gus- 
tavus there  were  four  sorts  of  regular  cavalry: 
those  completely  armed  and  carrying  lance  or 
pike,  a  dagger,  and  two  heavy  pistols  in  the  sad- 
dle; cuirassiers  with  a  similar  array  of  protective 

[17] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

armor,  pistols,  and  daggers;  arquebusiers,  later 
known  as  carabineers,  armed  with  steel  cap  and 
shot-proof  breastplates,  with  two  pistols  and  a 
hand  musket  slung  on  a  small  bandolier;  and  fi- 
nally the  dragoons,  mounted  pikemen  or  musket- 
eers, who  fought  on  horseback  as  well  as  on  foot. 

Added  to  this  were  the  regular  cavalry  regi- 
ments of  Croats,  Stradiots,  and  the  Hussars,  who, 
nearly  a  hundred  years  before,  in  the  year  1546, 
had  made  a  reputation  in  Germany  when  the  Duke 
Maurice  of  Saxony  lent  them  from  Bohemia  to 
King  Ferdinand.  At  that  time  they  presented  a 
rather  pleasing  appearance.  They  were  armed  in 
the  manner  of  the  Turk,  carried  scimitars  and 
targes;  but  they  had  fallen  into  disrepute,  being 
regarded  as  wild  robbers. 

Gustavus  Adolphus  brought  only  cuirassiers 
and  dragoons  to  Germany,  the  cuirassiers  being 
lighter  armed  than  the  Imperials,  but  far  superior 
to  them  in  the  energy  of  their  attack;  and  during 
the  whole  life  of  the  Swedish  king  his  efforts  were 
directed  to  lightening  the  weight  of  the  cavalry- 
men's equipment.  For  the  more  the  armies  be- 
came reduced  to  marauding  bands  the  more 
urgent  became  the  necessity  for  greater  mobility. 
And  the  advantages  of  light  equipment  were  thus 
made  evident. 


[18] 


n 

THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  SMALL  ARMS 

WHILE  the  improvements  in  cannon  were 
being  made,  a  corresponding  improve- 
ment in  small  arms  was  in  progress. 

The  first  of  such  weapons  was  the  "  gonne,"  or 
hand  cannon,  which  was  simply  a  short  metal 
tube  fastened  to  the  end  of  a  straight  stick,  the 
whole  being  light  enough  so  that  it  could  be  car- 
ried by  the  foot  soldier  or  horseman.  In  firing 
this  hand  gun  the  soldier  held  the  stick  under  his 
right  arm,  supporting  and  pointing  it  with  the 
left,  and  touching  it  off  with  the  match  held  in 
the  right  hand. 

The  horseman,  whose  weapon  had  a  much 
shorter  stick,  held  the  end  of  this  against  his 
shoulder  and  rested  the  end  of  the  piece  in  a 
forked  iron  fastened  upright  to  the  pommel  of 
the  saddle.  ^3 

During  the  reign  of  Henry  VII  (14SM509)  the 
method  of  firing  the  hand  gun  was  improved  by 
the  introduction  of  the  fire-lock  or  match-lock. 

This  lock  was  simply  a  mechanical  improvement 
of  the  older  method  of  touching  off  the  piece  by  a 
lighted  match.  The  "  match  "  of  this  lock  was 
carried  in  a  curved  lever  fastened  at  the  side  of 
the  gun  and  arranged  so  that  by  pulling  its  lower 

[19] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

end,  or  trigger,  the  match  descended  into  a  small 
cup-shaped  receptacle,  or  firing  pan,  which  was 
placed  at  the  side  of  the  gun,  allowing  the  soldier 
to  obtain  a  more  or  less  accurate  aim  by  sighting 
along  the  top  of  the  barrel. 

About  this  same  time  an  improvement  in  the 
shape  of  the  stock  was  made  also,  and  a  stock 
resembling  that  of  the  modern  gun,  although 
much  heavier,  came  into  use. 

By  these  two  improvements  better  marksman- 
ship was  possible  than  with  the  weapon  with  the 
stock  made  of  a  straight  piece  of  wood ;  and  with 
the  lengthened  barrel  which  soon  came  into  use,  a 
very  effective  weapon  was  produced. 

These  early  guns,  however,  were  so  clumsy  and 
heavy  that  the  musketeer,  or  harquebuseer,  car- 
ried besides  his  weapon  a  forked  rod  upon  which 
he  must  necessarily  rest  the  piece  while  aiming 
and  firing. 

The  great  disadvantage  of  the  match-lock  lay 
in  the  fact  that  it  was  not  always  ready  for  use 
even  when  loaded  and  primed;  for  excepting  in 
battle,  or  in  the  immediate  anticipation  of  battle, 
the  firing  match  was  not  lighted ;  and  in  the  days 
before  the  introduction  of  lucifer  matches,  ob- 
taining a  light  was  sometimes  a  difficult  matter. 
In  wet  weather  also  it  was  often  impossible  to 
keep  the  match  and  the  priming  powder  dry.  Ef- 
forts were  made,  therefore,  to  invent  a  lock  in 
which  a  spark  could  be  produced  mechanically  to 
ignite  the  powder  in  the  firing  pan  without  the 
use  of  the  match. 

[20] 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  SMALL  ARMS 

These  attempts  resulted  in  the  invention  of  the 
wheel-lock,  which  came  into  use  in  the  form  of 
pistols  as  well  as  guns  as  early  as  the  beginning 
of  the  sixteenth  century.  It  is  said  to  have  been 
invented  in  Nuremberg  in  1515. 

WHEEL-LOCK  AND  PISTOL. 

But  while  the  wheel-lock  was  an  improvement 
over  the  match-lock  in  that  it  could  be  discharged 
at  any  time  by  simply  pressing  the  trigger,  it  was 
complicated  and  unreliable. 

The  principle  upon  which  the  firing  of  the 
wheel-lock  depended  was  that  of  a  rough-edged 
metal  disk  rubbing  against  a  flinty  substance,  pro- 
ducing sparks  which  ignited  the  powder  in  the 
firing  pan.  The  substance  first  used  for  this  pur- 
pose was  not  flint,  which  was  to  become  so  popular 
a  little  later,  but  was  the  sulphuret  of  iron,  or  iron 
pyrites.  The  lock  was  so  arranged  that  the  piece 
of  this  was  held  in  the  firing  pan  by  a  spring  and 
another  spring  was  attached  to  the  metal  disk, 
which,  after  being  wound  up  with  a  key  carried  for 
the  purpose,  could  be  made  to  revolve  suddenly 
against  the  pyrites  in  the  pan  by  pulling  a  trigger. 

The  uncertainty  of  this  discharge  was  so  great, 
however,  that  the  wheel-lock  probably  never  com- 
pletely supplanted  the  match-lock  excepting  in  its 
application  to  pistols.  It  was  the  flint-lock,  rather 
than  the  wheel-lock,  that  supplanted  the  match- 
lock. 

The  importance  of  the  part  played  by  the 
[21]  ' 


MODERN  WARFARE 

wheel-lock  in  the  development  of  modern  weapons, 
therefore,  lies  in  the  fact  that  it  made  possible 
such  a  hand  weapon  as  the  pistol.  The  wheel-lock 
pistol,  though  unreliable,  was  more  effective 
against  armed  soldiers  at  close  range  than  any 
weapon  hitherto  known.  Mounted  soldiers  armed 
with  these  pistols  could  ride  close  to  their  an- 
tagonists, particularly  the  armed  knights  who  car- 
ried no  missile  weapons,  and  while  keeping  well 
out  of  range  of  the  lance  or  sword  stroke,  could 
discharge  their  pistols  with  deadly  effect. 

As  illustrating  this  effect  and  showing  that  it 
was  recognized  early  in  the  history  of  firearms, 
there  are  old  tapestries  and  pictures  made  as 
early  as  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century 
showing  some  knights  in  battle,  a  number  of  them 
armed  with  pistols,  while  their  opponents  are 
armed  with  swords  and  lances. 

In  every  instance  where  the  knight  is  pictured 
as  discharging  his  pistol,  the  opposing  knight 
is  represented  as  falling  dead,  suggesting  the 
vulnerability  of  armor  to  pistol  balls. 

THE   COMING   OF  THE   FLINT-LOCK 

But  perhaps  the  greatest  improvement  in  gun- 
making  until  very  recent  years  was  the  invention 
of  the  flint-lock. 

The  first  flint-lock  in  its  crudest  form  was 
known  as  the  snaphaunce,  and  was  invented  in 
Germany  near  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century. 
In  this  lock  the  iron  pyrites  of  the  wheel-lock 

[22] 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  SMALL  ARMS 

was  replaced  by  flint,  and  the  wheel  was  dis- 
pensed with,  its  place  being  taken  by  the  hammer 
which  by  striking  against  the  flint  threw  the  spark 
into  the  firing  pan  and  ignited  the  powder. 

The  snaphaunce  was  a  decided  improvement 
over  the  older  wheel-lock,  but  its  possibilities 
were  not  fully  developed  until  1635,  when  it 
evolved  into  the  form  of  the  modern  flint-lock — 
a  form  it  retained  almost  unchanged  for  two  cen- 
turies. 

The  two  essential  parts  of  the  flint-lock  were 
the  hammer  and  the  firing  pan.  In  the  snap- 
haunce  the  flint  had  been  held  by  the  firing  pan, 
the  metal  hammer  striking  against  it  in  that  posi- 
tion. In  the  flint-lock  the  flint  was  transferred  to 
the  hammer,  held  firmly  in  place  by  a  thumb- 
screw. The  firing  pan  was  constructed  of  a  piece 
of  steel  working  on  a  hinge  and  held  in  place  over 
the  priming  powder  by  a  spring.  When  the  pan 
was  closed  this  piece  of  steel  was  fixed  at  an  angle 
so  that  the  hammer,  on  falling,  impinged  against 
its  surface,  at  the  same  time  forcing  it  backward 
upon  the  hinge  and  exposing  the  powder  in  the 
pan  to  the  sparks. 

This  mechanism  was  so  nicely  adjusted  that  a 
shower  of  the  sparks  fell  directly  upon  the  prim- 
ing powder,  seldom  failing  to  explode  it  if  dry. 

The  powder  in  the  firing  pan  was  connected 
with  the  powder  in  the  gun  barrel  by  a  small  vent 
hole  in  the  side  of  the  barrel. 

The  advantages  of  this  lock  over  the  preceding 
forms  were  that  it  was  simple,  reliable, — at  least 

[23] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

as  compared  with  the  wheel-lock, — and  always 
ready  for  use.  Furthermore,  the  gun  fitted  with 
the  flint-lock  could  be  loaded  and  fired  much  more 
rapidly  because  with  the  new  arrangement  of  the 
firing  pan  priming  by  hand  was  unnecessary  as 
the  lock  primed  itself  automatically,  the  powder 
escaping  from  the  vent  hole  through  the  barrel 
and  filling  the  pan  in  the  process  of  loading.  To 
reload  the  piece  the  soldier  had  only  to  raise  the 
hammer,  close  the  pan,  pour  the  charge  of  powder 
into  the  barrel,  and  ram  home  the  bullet. 

The  piece  could  then  be  discharged  by  simply 
pulling  the  trigger. 

The  flint-lock  also  helped  in  reducing  the  weight 
of  muskets,  as  the  useless  weight  of  the  wheel- 
lock,  with  its  large  pan,  heavy  spring,  and  wind- 
ing device,  were  dispensed  with.  Large  pieces 
of  flint  were  found  to  be  unnecessary,  and  these 
were  reduced  in  size,  and  the  hammer  and  the  pan 
correspondingly  reduced,  until  the  lock  of  the  best 
type  of  flint-lock  occupied  very  little  more  space 
than  the  lock  of  the  modern  gun. 

Nevertheless  the  flint-lock  had  many  defects. 
It  was  particularly  susceptible  to  dampness  be- 
cause of  the  impossibility  of  making  the  firing  pan 
absolutely  water-tight.  But  even  with  the  powder 
in  the  pan  perfectly  dry  the  piece  frequently 
missed  fire,  the  explosion  of  the  powder  in  the 
pan  failing  to  ignite  the  charge  in  the  barrel, 
causing  it  to  "  flash  in  the  pan."  This  was  likely 
to  happen  just  at  the  wrong  time — in  cases  of 
emergency  where  a  quick  shot  might  determine 

[24] 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  SMALL  ARMS 

the  issue.  Under  ordinary  circumstances,  where 
the  gunner  might  open  the  pan  and  examine  the 
priming  powder  or  replace  it  if  necessary  before 
firing,  misfires  were  much  less  frequent. 

What  has  just  been  said  of  the  flint-lock  musket 
applies  also  to  the  development  of  the  pistol,  which 
was  simply  a  reduced  musket  with  a  handle 
shaped  to  fit  the  hand  rather  than  the  shoulder. 
The  change  in  size  and  shape  of  pistols  and  minor 
modifications  in  them  from  time  to  time  were  as 
great  as  in  the  case  of  the  longer  weapon;  but  no 
essential  advance  over  the  gun  was  made  in  pistol 
manufacture  until  the  American,  Colonel  Colt, 
revolutionized  the  weapon  by  his  invention  of  the 
revolver. 

BAYONET   AND  RIFLE 

The  slow  process  of  loading  and  priming  the 
early  muskets  made  it  necessary  for  musketeers 
to  be  provided  with  some  other  weapon  for  close 
fighting.  The  long  pike  was,  of  course,  the  ideal 
weapon  for  the  footman ;  but  the  soldier  with  his 
heavy  musket  and  the  necessary  supply  of  am- 
munition was  so  weighed  down  that  carrying  such 
an  extra  weapon  as  the  heavy  pike  was  out  of  the 
question. 

To  meet  this  condition  the  "  bayonet  "  was  in- 
vented,— so  called  because  of  the  improvements 
made  later  at  Bayonne. 

The  first  bayonets  were  simply  short  swords 
that  fitted  into  the  bore  at  the  muzzle  of  the  gun. 

[25] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

But  with  this  bayonet  attached  the  piece  could 
be  no  longer  loaded  and  fired,  and  the  time  re- 
quired for  fixing  the  bayonet  in  the  muzzle  before 
it  could  be  used  was  sometimes  of  vital  impor- 
tance in  a  fight  at  close  quarters.  This  defect 
was  finally  remedied  by  the  invention  of  the 
socket  bayonet,  modifications  of  which  are  still 
in  use  in  all  modern  armies. 

The  socket  bayonet  supplied  the  soldier  with  a 
pike  always  ready  for  use,  interfering  very  little 
with  the  loading  and  not  at  all  with  the  firing  of 
his  musket.  By  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth 
century  it  had  taken  the  form  still  in  use  until  a 
generation  ago. 

It  is  probable  that  the  experiment  of  making 
horizontal  grooves,  or  rifling,  in  the  barrels  of 
firearms  was  first  tried,  not  as  a  means  of  in- 
creasing the  accuracy  of  the  weapon,  but  in  the 
attempt  to  overcome  fouling.  In  the  early  days 
of  gunpowder,  when  the  exact  composition  of  an 
explosive  that  would  give  the  maximum  amount 
of  power  with  the  minimum  residue  left  in  the 
weapon  had  not  been  determined,  the  piece  be- 
came so  fouled  after  a  few  shots  had  been  fired 
that  loading  with  a  tightly  fitting  bullet  was  very 
difficult. 

It  is  supposed  that  experiments  were  made  to 
overcome  this  difficulty  by  cutting  grooves  along 
the  surface  of  the  barrel,  and  in  this  way  it  was 
discovered  that  greater  accuracy  in  shooting 
could  be  attained  by  a  barrel  so  "  rifled." 

Whether  or  not  rifling  was  actually  disco ve  red 
[26] 


1  UK    INVOLUTION   OF   THE   PlSTOL 

1.    English  "  Tower  "  flint-lock  pistol — used  by  both  sides  in  Rovolu- 

tion. 

•2.    I'.  S.  Hint-lock  pistol,  model  of  ISH> — a  eavalry  weapon. 
3.    U.  S.   tlint-loek   pistol.  model  of  IS:U> — made  until   1S44. 
I.     I  .  S.  percussion  cap  pistol  of  1S47- — usoil  until  thr  C'i\il  \\"ar. 
.">.     I '.  S.  Tolt   ivvolvor.  used  1S4S  to   lS.")."i — tlu>  first   ivv»»lvt-r. 
(i.    C'olt  pi-mission  cap  ivvolvcv — tlu>  wi-ll-kno\vii  \\oapon  of  tho  C'ivil 

War. 

7.  Colt  "Cavalry*  revolver  of  is;:;  to  lS«.i-_»  -^in,u'K>  action. 
S.  Tolt  ivvolvi-r  of  1S!>:5 — Spanish  War  typo — double  aetion. 
'.'.  C>»>lt  automatic  pistol — latest  side  anus — now  used  by  I".  S.  Army. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  SMALL  ARMS 

in  this  manner  has  never  been  definitely  deter- 
mined. It  is  certain,  however,  that  rifling  was 
invented  as  early  as  the  first  part  of  the  sixteenth 
century.  The  invention  seems  to  have  been  made 
by  the  Germans,  as  it  is  known  that  Augustus 
Kotter  of  Nuremberg  and  Gaspard  Kollner  of 
Vienna  manufactured  rifled  weapons  about  1520. 

The  barrels  of  these  guns  were  made  with  two, 
three,  or  more  grooves  running  spirally  the 
length  of  the  barrel.  Some  of  these  first  rifles 
were  probably  made  with  straight  grooves;  but 
as  it  had  been  known  for  centuries  that  the  ac- 
curacy and  penetration  of  missiles — the  arrow, 
for  example — could  be  increased  by  giving  them  a 
rotatory  movement,  it  is  probable  that  the  spiral 
rifling  was  tried  almost  from  the  first. 

But  despite  the  fact  that  rifles  were  recognized 
as  superior  in  accuracy  and  penetration  to 
smooth-bored  weapons,  they  had  one  defect  which 
was  so  difficult  to  overcome  that,  except  as  hunt- 
ing pieces,  they  did  not  come  into  general  use  with 
soldiers  for  several  centuries  after  the  invention. 

This  cardinal  defect  was  the  difficulty  in  load- 
ing them — due  to  the  fact  that  in  order  to  get  the 
effect  of  the  rifling  on  the  bullet  it  was  necessary 
that  the  ball  should  fit  the  grooves  tightly. 

When  so  made  it  was  difficult  to  force  the  bullet 
along  the  barrel  in  loading,  this  being  particu- 
larly true  in  starting  the  bullet  into  the  bore.  It 
could  be  accomplished  with  reasonable  facility 
with  a  short  peg  and  a  few  taps  with  the  mallet, 
and  when  once  started  the  ball  could  be  rammed 

[27] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

home  easily  with  a  ramrod;  but  loading  in  this 
manner  was  much  too  slow  and  complicated  a 
process  for  the  soldier.  For  hunting  and  for 
target  practice  this  loss  of  time  was  of  little  con- 
sequence; but  for  the  soldier  it  was  so  important 
a  factor  that  the  smooth-bore  musket  remained 
the  popular  military  weapon  until  comparatively 
recent  times. 

There  were  regiments  of  riflemen  on  the  con- 
tinent as  early  as  1631,  to  be  sure,  but  the  rifle 
did  not  come  into  general  use  in  any  country 
until  a  period  in  the  nineteenth  century,  antedat- 
ing the  introduction  of  breech-loading  weapons 
by  only  a  few  years. 

A  century  before  this  time,  however,  there  were 
bodies  of  men,  hunters  and  frontier  fighters,  who 
used  the  rifle  exclusively,  and  learned  to  shoot  it 
with  marvelous  accuracy.  Such  men  were  found 
in  Europe  among  the  hunters  of  Switzerland,  but 
the  best  marksmen  and  the  most  accurate  weap- 
ons were  found  among  the  frontiersmen  in 
America.  The  part  played  by  the  American 
woodsman  and  his  weapon,  the  long-barreled, 
flint-lock  rifle,  in  conquering  the  American  con- 
tinent for  the  white  man  is  familiar  matter  of 
record. 

THE  "  LONG  RIFLE/'  OB  "  KENTUCKY  RIFLE  '; 

The  dense  forests  that  covered  the  foothills  of 
the  Alleghanies  played  a  very  important  part  in 
developing  the  prince  of  flint-lock  weapons,  the 

[28] 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  SMALL  ARMS 

"  long  rifle, "  of  the  backwoodsman  of  Kevolu- 
tionary  times.  For  these  dense  forests  sheltered 
the  Indian,  who,  in  his  forests,  could  defy  the 
ordinary  musket. 

The  white  man,  armed  with  a  less  effective 
weapon  than  the  long  rifle,  could  not  hope  to  cope 
with  the  Indian  in  his  strongholds.  In  the  open, 
a  handful  of  grenadiers  like  those  of  Braddock, 
or  Grant,  with  their  "  Brown  Bess  "  muskets, 
could  have  defeated  almost  any  number  of  Indian 
warriors.  But  in  the  forest,  no  body  of  white 
men,  not  even  the  backwoodsmen  themselves,  if 
armed  with  weapons  of  doubtful  accuracy,  could 
cope  with  anything  like  an  equal  number  of  In- 
dians similarly  armed.  Their  only  hope  of  suc- 
cess lay  in  having  a  weapon  of  greater  precision, 
and  in  learning  to  shoot  it  with  unfailing  ac- 
curacy. 

They  could  never,  as  a  class,  hope  to  equal  the 
Indian  as  a  woodsman,  but  they  could,  and  did, 
learn  to  excel  him  in  marksmanship. 

In  a  word,  the  very  existence  of  the  borderers 
depended  upon  their  marksmanship.  The  hunter 
or  Indian  fighter,  with  his  slow-loading  piece, 
must  kill  with  a  single  shot.  The  more  danger- 
ous and  aggressive  the  foe,  the  greater  need  of 
good  marksmanship.  And  the  American  Indian 
in  the  trackless  forest,  as  an  individual  fighter, 
has  probably  never  been  equaled  by  any  savage 
of  another  race. 

The  forests  of  the  western  borders  of  the 
Colonies  were  an  ideal  place  for  the  Indians' 

[29] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

style  of  fighting.  These  forests  were  so  dense  and 
unbroken  for  thousands  of  square  miles  that  the 
hunter  might  wander  there  indefinitely  without 
finding  an  opening  that  gave  him  a  clear  view  of 
the  sky.  Here  the  Indian  was  at  his  best.  Skulk- 
ing noiselessly  from  tree  to  tree  he  could  follow 
his  enemies  for  days,  keeping  constantly  within 
striking  distance,  his  presence  unsuspected  until 
some  member  of  the  party  who  had  stepped  aside 
from  the  main  body  itself,  or  loitered  behind,  had 
been  cut  off. 

Even  the  main  body  itself  could  be  attacked 
with  little  danger,  the  Indians  disappearing  into 
the  forest  if  beaten  off,  and  returning  again  and 
again  to  complete  their  work,  without  greatly  ex- 
posing themselves  to  the  effective  fire  of  the 
white  men. 

Eegular  troops  armed  and  trained  after  con- 
tinental methods  were  helpless  against  such  at- 
tacks. Most  of  the  Indians  killed  or  wounded  at 
such  battles  as  at  Braddock's  or  Grant's  defeat 
were  not  struck  by  musket  balls,  but  by  the  bullets 
from  the  long  rifles  of  the  despised  American 
rangers. 

So  long  as  the  white  man  clung  to  the  musket 
as  a  weapon,  therefore,  the  great  forests  of  the 
border  and  the  lands  lying  beyond  were  prac- 
tically closed  to  him.  There  was  but  one  solution 
of  the  problem — the  development  of  marksmen 
whose  skill  in  shooting  would  offset  the  Indians' 
woodcraft.  By  taking  advantage  of  the  one  de- 
fect of  this  otherwise  almost  perfect  woodland 

[30] 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  SMALL  ARMS 

fighter — the  fact  that  the  Indian  never  did,  and 
apparently  never  can,  learn  to  equal  the  white 
man  in  marksmanship — the  conquest  of  the  wil- 
derness, and  the  occupation  of  the  fertile  lands 
beyond,  became  possible. 

For  such  marksmen  an  accurate  weapon  was 
an  obvious  necessity;  and  the  "  long  rifle  " — 
often  dubbed  "  Kentucky  rifle  " — fulfilling  this 
condition,  was  finally  evolved  and  perfected. 

The  long  rifle,  like  the  longbow,  deserved  its 
name.  Its  length  was  usually  five  feet  or  more, 
the  gun  reaching  to  the  chin  of  a  tall  man.  The 
barrel  was  very  thick  and  made  of  soft  iron.  The 
ball  was  small  as  compared  with  the  army 
muskets  of  the  time,  the  bullets  running  about 
sixty  or  seventy  to  the  pound,  as  against  the 
musket  ball's  sixteen.  These  bullets  were  round, 
and  were  not  ordinarily  rammed  home  directly 
over  the  powder,  but  had  interposed  a  thin 
' '  patch  ' '  of  buckskin  or  cotton  cloth. 

This  helped  in  adapting  the  bullet  more  accu- 
rately to  the  rifling  in  the  barrel,  and  also  tended 
to  prevent  fouling. 

The  stock  was  small,  and  often  delicately 
modeled,  scooped  out  at  the  butt,  and  running  the 
entire  length  underneath  the  barrel.  The  sights 
were  of  the  usual  open  "  crotch  "  and  "  block  " 
type.  The  weapon  was  very  heavy,  and  not  well 
balanced,  but  was  nevertheless  easy  to  hold  in 
"  drawing  a  bead,"  and  in  accuracy,  at  short 
range,  probably  unsurpassed  even  by  modern 
rifles. 

[31] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

To  hunters  of  to-day,  accustomed  to  the  simple 
and  rapid  loading  of  modern  firearms,  the  process 
of  loading  the  long  rifle  seems  slow  and  compli- 
cated. It  consisted  in  measuring  and  pouring  in 
the  powder;  laying  the  "  patch, "  greased  to 
facilitate  the  entrance,  over  the  muzzle;  laying 
on  the  ball  and  driving  it  home  along  the  four- 
foot  barrel  with  the  slender  hickory  ramrod. 

In  cases  of  emergency  the  patch  was  omitted, 
but  at  best  the  process  of  loading  was  a  relatively 
slow  one. 

Nevertheless,  the  celerity  with  which  the  expert 
backwoodsman  could  load  and  fire  his  rifle  under 
most  disadvantageous  circumstances  was  highly 
disconcerting  to  his  antagonists.  An  instance  of 
this  kind  is  told  of  Louis  Wetzel,  a  famous  Indian 
fighter  of  the  backwoods.  Wetzel — so  the  story 
runs — was  surprised  by  a  band  of  Indians,  and 
having  fired  his  rifle,  took  to  his  heels,  closely 
pursued  by  four  Indians.  By  loading  as  he  ran, 
and  turning  and  firing,  he  succeeded  in  killing 
three  of  his  pursuers  in  succession.  The  fourth 
gave  up  the  chase,  declaring  afterwards  that  it 
was  useless  to  chase  a  man  "  whose  gun  was  al- 
ways loaded. " 

The  rapid  loading  and  firing  of  some  of  the 
soldiers  of  the  American  Civil  War  is  scarcely 
less  marvelous.  Not  many  years  ago  General 
Kilpatrick,  the  famous  cavalry  leader,  was  ac- 
customed to  give  exhibitions  from  the  lecture  plat- 
form of  this  quick  loading  and  firing.  With  the 
ordinary  muzzle-loading  army  musket  he  was  able 

[32] 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  SMALL  ARMS 

to  load  and  fire  with  a  rapidity  approaching  that 
of  the  average  soldier  firing  the  single-shot 
Springfield  breech-loader. 

As  the  long  rifle  had  been  superseded  many 
years  before  the  time  of  official  records  of  rifle 
shooting  at  standard  targets,  it  is  difficult  to 
compare  the  shooting  of  such  men  as  Boone, 
Brady,  and  Kenton  with  modern  experts.  The 
nature  of  the  targets  they  fired  at,  however,  speaks 
sufficiently  for  their  skill.  One  of  the  principal 
amusements  of  the  woodsmen  was  the  shooting 
match,  indulged  in  whenever  a  number  of  neigh- 
bors came  together.  On  such  occasions  a  favorite 
target  was  a  nail  partly  driven  into  a  tree.  The 
test  of  skill  was  to  drive  this  nail  with  a  rifle  bul- 
let shot  from  a  stand  several  yards  away.  For 
the  marksman  to  strike  the  nail  squarely  on  the 
head  was  considered  good  shooting;  merely  to 
"  tick  "  it  on  one  side,  bending  but  not  driving 
it,  was  fair  shooting ;  while  missing  it  entirely  was 
inexcusably  bad  marksmanship. 

Another  favorite  pastime  was  shooting  at  night 
with  a  lighted  candle  for  a  target,  the  marksman 
attempting  to  "  snuff  "  the  candle  without  ex- 
tinguishing the  light.  To  do  this  only  the  upper 
part  of  the  wick  must  be  struck,  as  hitting  it  a 
fraction  of  an  inch  too  low  puts  out  the  light. 
To  miss  the  wick  altogether  or  to  strike  the  candle 
was  looked  upon  as  very  bad  shooting.  So  the 
aim  had  to  be  very  accurate  indeed. 

This  practice  was  particularly  useful  to  the 
woodsmen,  who  frequently  hunted  deer  and  other 

[33] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

game  at  night  by  torchlight,  firing  at  the  glint  in 
the  animal's  eye. 

Two  skillful  marksmen  sometimes  exhibited 
their  prowess  and  their  confidence  in  each  other 
by  alternately  shooting  pewter  cups  partly  filled 
with  whisky  placed  on  the  head,  piercing  the  cup 
above  the  liquid  without  spilling  it.  In  this  and 
a  score  of  other  ways  the  long  riflemen  attested 
the  marvelous  accuracy  of  their  rifles,  and  their 
no  less  marvelous  skill  in  handling  them. 

During  the  Revolutionary  War  the  British  be- 
came so  impressed  with  the  shooting  of  some  of 
the  regiments  of  backwoodsmen  that  they  hired 
continental  regiments  of  riflemen,  called  Jagers, 
to  offset  this  shooting;  but  so  far  as  can  be 
learned  the  shooting  of  such  regiments  did  not 
compare  favorably  with  that  of  the  American 
hunters.  But  the  lesson  of  King's  Mountain, 
where  the  deadly  long  rifle  won  the  battle,  was 
soon  forgotten,  although  it  was  again  repeated, 
with  even  more  disastrous  results,  at  New 
Orleans  in  1814. 

Nevertheless  the  British  clung  to  the  smooth- 
bore musket  for  another  generation,  not  adopting 
the  rifle  as  a  general  arm  for  her  soldiers  until 
1857. 

Napoleon  for  a  time  tried  the  rifled  gun,  but 
soon  discarded  it,  preferring  the  old  smooth-bore 
for  his  troops.  In  view  of  the  proverbially  poor 
marksmanship  of  the  French  soldier  of  that  time, 
both  at  home  and  in  Canada,  it  is  probable  that 
the  Emperor's  choice  was  a  wise  one.  For  the 

[34] 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  SMALL  ARMS 

average  soldier  could  load  and  fire  the  smooth- 
bore more  rapidly  than  the  rifle,  and  for  poor 
marksmen  one  weapon  answers  about  as  well  as 
another. 


THE  PERCUSSION   CAP 

Meanwhile  a  most  revolutionary  invention  had 
been  made  in  the  firing  lock  of  firearms — the  in- 
vention of  the  percussion  cap  in  1807  by  a  Scotch 
clergyman  named  Forsyth.  This  was  the  first 
really  significant  improvement  in  almost  two  cen- 
turies. And  although  a  quarter  of  a  century 
elapsed  before  the  importance  of  this  invention 
was  fully  realized,  it  was  destined,  eventually,  to 
revolutionize  firearms.  Indeed,  it  was  this  inven- 
tion that  made  possible  the  modern  magazine  and 
automatic  gun. 

The  principle  of  Forsyth 's  percussion  cap  was 
that  of  a  small  cup-shaped  piece  of  metal,  con- 
taining fulminating  powder  which  detonated  on 
being  struck  with  the  hammer  of  the  lock.  Such 
caps  were  first  made  of  steel  or  iron,  but  subse- 
quently of  copper.  For  using  this  cap  a  metal 
tube,  or  nipple,  was  fastened  permanently  at  the 
side  of  the  gun,  corresponding  in  position  to  the 
firing  pan  of  the  flint-lock.  This  nipple  was  hol- 
low, communicating  directly  with  the  powder  in 
the  barrel,  with  a  pin-hole  opening  in  the  top  over 
which  the  percussion  cap  fitted  closely.  The 
hammer,  retaining  practically  the  same  shape  as 
the  hammer  of  the  flint-lock,  struck  directly  upon 

[35] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

the  top  of  the  cap  which  contained  the  fulminat- 
ing powder. 

In  this  manner  the  spark  was  driven  directly 
into  the  powder  chamber  through  a  confined  tube, 
making  detonation  almost  a  certainty. 

The  many  advantages  of  this  new  system  of 
lock  were  obvious.  It  was  little  affected  by  damp- 
ness, the  fulminating  powder  being  protected  and 
rendered  practically  waterproof  by  a  coating  of 
some  kind  on  the  inner  surface.  It  could  be  car- 
ried for  days  or  weeks  in  all  kinds  of  weather 
and  could  be  fired  at  any  moment  by  simply  cock- 
ing the  piece  and  pulling  the  trigger.  With  the 
flint-lock,  as  we  have  seen,  damp  weather  was 
always  disastrous;  while  shaking  it  about,  as  in 
marching,  even  in  dry  weather,  was  likely  to  mis- 
place the  priming  and  cause  misfires.  This  one 
advantage  of  the  cap-and-nipple  over  the  flint- 
lock would  determine  its  adoption.  But  another 
important  discovery  was  soon  made — the  cap- 
and-nipple  gun  shot  farther,  and  recoiled  less  than 
the  flint-lock,  even  with  smaller  charges  of 
powder. 

The  explanation  of  this  was  simply  that  less 
gas  escaped  through  the  vent  hole  at  the  time  of 
discharge,  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  size  of  the 
vent  hole  in  the  nipple  could  be  reduced  to  a  mere 
pin  hole,  whereas  in  the  flint-lock  it  was  neces- 
sarily much  larger. 

Another  feature  of  the  new  percussion  cap-and- 
nipple  lock  that  appealed  to  military  authorities 
was  the  fact  that  the  flint-lock  could  with  slight 

[36] 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  SMALL  ARMS 

alterations  be  converted  into  a  cap-and-nipple 
lock.  To  do  this  the  top  of  the  hammer  had  only 
to  be  changed  slightly  in  shape  and  given  a  flat 
surface  for  striking  the  nipple,  and  the  vent  hole 
enlarged  and  given  a  thread,  into  which  could  be 
screwed  the  shoulder  of  the  nipple.  The  spring 
mechanism  of  the  cock  and  the  trigger  action  re- 
mained the  same. 

The  new  lock  was  particularly  adaptable  to 
hand  weapons,  and  until  its  invention  no  such 
thing  as  a  reliable  pocket  pistol,  in  the  true  sense 
of  the  term,  was  possible.  There  were  flint-lock 
pistols,  to  be  sure,  of  all  sizes,  ranging  from  the 
long  horse-pistol  down  to  a  "  vest  pocket  " 
weapon;  but  in  emergencies,  necessitating  the 
sudden  drawing  of  the  weapon,  they  were  not  re- 
liable, being  likely  to  catch  the  pan  in  the  holster 
or  pocket,  throwing  it  open  and  making  the  pistol 
useless  until  reprimed.  Furthermore,  the  space 
occupied  by  the  pan  was  much  greater  than  that 
of  the  nipple.  So  that  the  advent  of  a  reliable 
pistol  as  an  emergency  weapon  dates  from  the  in- 
vention of  the  Forsyth  percussion  cap. 

Incidentally,  the  decline  of  the  saber  as  a 
favorite  cavalry  weapon  dates  from  this  time  also. 

GREENER   BULLET   AND   MINIE   BALL 

Although,  as  we  have  seen,  neither  European 
nor  American  army  men  seemed  fully  to  realize 
the  importance  in  warfare  of  rifled  weapons  for 
some  time  after  the  demonstration  of  their  su- 

[37] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

periority,  the  example  of  Swiss  and  American 
riflemen  was  gradually  having  its  effect.  A 
French  officer  named  Delvigne  invented  a  rifle 
in  1826  which  partially  overcame  the  difficulty  in 
charging.  He  constructed  the  breech  with  abrupt 
shoulders,  shaped  so  that  the  bullet,  when  ham- 
mered against  it  with  the  rod,  expanded  and  filled 
the  grooves. 

By  this  arrangement  a  ball  somewhat  smaller 
than  the  bore  could  be  used.  But  the  hammering 
process  was  not  only  tedious,  but  so  distorted  the 
shape  of  the  ball  that  the  accuracy  of  its  flight 
was  interfered  with,  thus  defeating  the  object  of 
such  weapons.  This  gun,  therefore,  never  became 
popular. 

But  in  1835  an  Englishman,  Greener,  turned  his 
attention  to  the  bullet  itself,  and  soon  produced  a 
ball  that  fulfilled  all  the  necessary  conditions 
by  expanding  and  fitting  the  grooves  when  the 
weapon  was  discharged.  This  bullet  was  oval  in 
shape,  and  flattened  at  the  back,  with  a  conical 
piece  of  metal  inserted  in  such  a  manner  that  the 
explosion  of  the  powder  pressing  against  the  plug 
expanded  the  bullet  to  fit  the  rifling. 

Trials  of  this  form  of  bullet  proved  entirely 
successful,  but  the  Greener  arm  was  not  accepted 
for  use  in  the  armies,  "  because  the  bullet  was  a 
compound  one."  Its  superior  accuracy  over  the 
army  musket  was  admitted,  and  it  could  be  loaded 
as  easily  as  the  smooth-bore  weapon ;  but  conserv- 
atism held  out  against  it  for  many  years. 

Seventeen  years  later  (1852),  however,  % 
[38] 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  SMALL  ARMS 

similar  bullet,  or  one  acting  on  the  same  principle, 
was  invented  by  the  Frenchman,  Minie,  and  came 
at  once  into  favor.  Minie 's  bullet  was  a  conical 
ball  of  lead,  with  an  iron  plug  at  the  base,  which 
acted  on  the  same  principle  as  the  Greener  bullet, 
by  expanding  the  leaden  bullet  into  the  rifling  of 
the  barrel.  The  Minie  ball,  or  the  various  modi- 
fications of  it,  became  at  once  the  favorite  bullet, 
especially  with  sharpshooters,  and  held  its  place 
of  favor  until  the  introduction  of  breech-loading 
weapons. 

It  was  the  most  dreaded  bullet  of  the  American 
Civil  War,  because  of  its  accuracy,  and  its  ' i  sing- 
ing "  as  it  passed  overhead  was  familiar  to  all  sol- 
diers, easily  distinguishable  from  the  "  scream  " 
of  the  musket  ball. 

Some  tests  of  this  new  rifle,  in  comparison  with 
the  ordinary  army  musket,  have  been  recorded  by 
Paixhaus  as  follow: 

"  At  a  distance  of  two  hundred  eighteen  and 
six-tenth  yards,  it  was  found  that  a  target  of 
rather  more  than  two  yards  square  was  struck  one 
hundred  times  in  succession  with  the  new  musket, 
and  only  forty-four  times  by  the  old  weapon,  out 
of  the  same  number  of  shots.  At  six  hundred 
fifty-five  and  eight-tenth  yards,  which  the  com- 
mon musket  did  not  reach,  the  same  target  was 
struck  twenty-five  out  of  one  hundred  shots  by  the 
new  musket,  whilst  a  field  piece  firing  the  same 
number  only  struck  it  six  times.  At  one  thousand 
and  ninety-three  yards,  when  a  field  piece  usually 
diverged  six  or  eight  yards  from  the  target,  the 

[39] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

new  musket  struck  six  times  out  of  one  hundred 
shots ;  and  at  this  enormous  distance,  it  was  found 
in  the  case  of  an  experienced  marksman  that  three 
of  his  shots  out  of  four  took  effect  on  a  moderate 
sized  target;  so  that  in  this  case  art  did  more 
than  nature,  for  at  one  thousand  yards  none  but  a 
good  sight  could  distinguish  the  object  which  the 
musket  hit  so  accurately." 

Here,  at  last,  was  a  practical  army  weapon  of 
great  precision;  and  for  several  years  every  na- 
tion had  its  sharpshooters  equipped  with  Minie, 
or  similar,  rifles.  Then  the  breech-loader  was 
perfected,  and,  as  we  shall  see  in  a  later  chapter, 
the  Minie  rifle  was  relegated  to  the  museum, 
where  its  predecessors — fire-locks,  wheel-locks, 
and  flint-locks — had  long  found  a  resting  place. 


[40] 


Ill 

PKOJECTILES  AND  ARMOR 

IT  was  many  years  after  the  discovery  of  gun- 
powder and  its  application  to  cannon  before 
suitable  missiles  were  found  to  use  in  the 
crude  wooden  or  metal  tubes  of  the  early  artillery. 

The  first  of  these  were  simply  stones,  rounded 
so  as  to  fit  the  bore  of  the  piece  approximately, 
or  used  as  nature  had  left  them.  But  aside  from 
the  fact  that  such  cannon  balls  did  not  fit  the  bore 
of  the  gun,  and  consequently  could  not  be  fired 
with  any  degree  of  accuracy,  they  had  the  disad- 
vantage of  shattering  against  the  stone  walls  of 
fortresses,  or,  what  was  even  worse,  splitting  to 
pieces  in  the  gun  itself. 

To  overcome  these  defects  molded  metal  balls 
soon  came  into  use,  and  the  spherical  shape 
quickly  supplanted  all  others,  because  such  balls 
could  be  fired  with  a  fair  degree  of  accuracy  and 
could  be  rammed  home  along  the  bore  of  the  gun 
with  greater  ease  than  any  other  form. 

For  use  against  loose  bodies  of  troops,  charges 
of  smaller  lead  balls,  or  bullets,  placed  loosely  in 
the  bore  of  the  gun  after  the  manner  of  shot  in  a 
fowling  piece,  soon  became  popular;  and  some- 
times these  were  used  in  combination  with  solid 
shot,  thus  combining  the  crushing  effect  with 

[41] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

the  wider  danger  zone  for  troops  in  the  line  of 
fire. 

But  all  through  the  centuries,  from  the  first  in- 
troduction of  firearms  to  the  present  day,  artil- 
lerists have  striven  constantly  to  produce  more 
deadly  missiles. 

Some  of  these  were  designed  simply  for  more 
general  killing  purposes,  while  others  were  for 
special  uses,  such  as  setting  fire  to  ships  or  forti- 
fications, cutting  spars  and  rigging,  or  battering 
down  walls.  The  different  kinds  of  shot  and  shell 
that  have  been  produced  as  a  result  of  these  ef- 
forts are  numbered  by  scores.  Most  of  them 
were  of  little  importance,  and  have  long  since 
passed  out  of  existence  except  as  curiosities.  But 
a  few  have  come  down  from  the  earliest  times, 
and,  in  modified  forms,  are  still  in  use;  while 
others,  such  as  chain-shot  and  bar-shot,  have  only 
passed  out  of  use  within  comparatively  recent 
years. 

Chain-shot  and  bar-shot  were  made  by  joining 
two  solid  shots  together  by  a  chain,  a  solid  iron 
bar,  or  with  two  bars  linked  together  midway 
between  the  balls.  When  used  as  chain-shot,  or 
with  the  linked  bars,  such  projectiles  were  fired 
from  two  cannon  placed  side  by  side,  discharged 
by  a  single  vent  hole.  In  this  manner  the  two  shot, 
spreading  apart  in  their  flight,  could  be  made  to 
cut  the  rigging  of  a  ship,  or  mow  a  swath  through 
bodies  of  troops. 

There  were  many  modifications  in  this  kind  of 
projectile,  such  as  in  the  form  of  two  swords 

[42] 


PROJECTILES  AND  ARMOR 

linked  together  in  place  of  a  chain  or  bar,  but  this 
class  of  projectile  was  never  used  extensively,  and 
was  confined  to  special  purposes. 


CANISTER  AND   GRAPE-SHOT 

A  much  more  effective  form  of  projectile  was 
the  case-shot  or  "  canister."  This  was  used  at 
close  range  against  bodies  of  troops,  and  was  de- 
signed to  take  the  place  of  small  stones,  nails,  bits 
of  iron,  etc.,  frequently  used  in  early  times.  The 
case-shot  consisted  of  a  light  metal  case,  filled 
with  small  bullets,  and  having  a  small  bursting 
charge  of  powder  which  was  connected  with  a 
fuse.  At  close  range  it  was  terribly  destructive 
to  bodies  of  troops  on  land  or  on  shipboard. 

Another  somewhat  similar  projectile  was 
known  as  "  grape-shot."  This  was  effective  at 
still  closer  range.  Iti  was  simply  a  charge  of 
small  bullets  held  together  loosely  in  a  bag  which 
could  be  rammed  into  the  muzzle  easily,  but  which 
burst  shortly  after  leaving  the  muzzle,  scattering 
the  bullets  in  the  same  manner  as  shot  are  scat- 
tered by  an  ordinary  fowling  piece. 

Except  at  very  close  range  the  charge  of  bullets 
scattered  too  quickly  to  be  effective. 

To  overcome  this  defect  various  modifications 
were  introduced,  a  common  device  consisting  of 
two  circular  disks  of  wood  slightly  smaller  than 
the  bore  of  the  gun,  held  together  by  a  metal  rod, 
round  which  the  bullets  were  packed,  the  whole 
mass  being  inclosed  in  a  canvas  sack. 

[43] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

An  improvement  on  this  form,  however,  was 
made  by  an  officer  named  Caffin,  at  the  beginning 
of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  remained  in  use 
until  the  introduction  of  the  modern  projectiles 
for  rifled  cannon.  In  Caffin 's  "  grape-shot  "  the 
wooden  disks  of  the  older  projectile  were  replaced 
by  thin  metal  disks,  piled  one  above  another  with 
a  single  layer  of  small  bullets  alternating  with 
each  pair  of  disks,  which  were  made  with  indenta- 
tions into  which  the  bullets  fitted.  The  whole 
projectile  was  held  together  by  a  central  rod  fitted 
with  a  nut,  and  was  effective  at  a  considerable 
distance,  although  the  exact  point  of  bursting 
could  not  be  predetermined  accurately. 

EXPLOSIVE  SHELLS 

Shells,  or  hollow  projectiles  containing  explo- 
sives, are  known  to  have  come  into  general  use  as 
early  as  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and 
were  probably  known  and  used  at  a  much  earlier 
period. 

Somewhat  similar  missiles  were  in  use  before 
the  introduction  of  gunpowder,  except  that  they 
were  charged  with  Greek  fire  or  some  other  com- 
bustible instead  of  an  explosive.  The  ordinary 
shell  consisted  of  a  hollow  iron  ball  charged  with 
powder  and  having  a  hole  for  admitting  the  fuse. 
The  general  principle  of  this  shell  remained  prac- 
tically the  same  for  several  centuries,  although 
there  were  constant  modifications,  such  as  im- 
provements in  the  shape,  the  method  of  inserting 

[44] 


PROJECTILES  AND  ARMOR 

the  fuse,  and  the  position  of  the  bursting  charge. 

Such  shells  were  very  effective  against  wooden 
ships  and  fortifications  because  of  their  liability 
to  set  fire  to  inflammable  substances,  and  because 
of  the  destructive  effects  of  the  shell  fragments. 

For  purely  incendiary  purposes,  however,  other 
forms  of  shells  were  sometimes  used.  One  of 
these  was  a  large-caliber  .shell  filled  with  molten 
iron  poured  into  the  shell  a  few  moments  before 
firing,  and  allowed  to  stand  until  the  opening  had 
been  sealed  by  the  cooling  of  the  surface  of  metal 
exposed  to  the  air,  leaving  the  interior  mass  still 
fluid.  This  shell  was  made  sufficiently  thin  to 
burst  on  striking  against  any  solid  substance,  such 
as  the  decks,  masts,  or  the  hulls  of  vessels,  the 
hot  metal  spattering  about  and  setting  fire  to 
everything  it  touched.  It  was  much  more  effec- 
tive, therefore,  than  red-hot  pieces  of  metal  which 
were  sometimes  used  at  close  range  for  the  same 
purpose. 

Another  projectile  designed  for  the  same  pur- 
pose and  known  as  a  "  carcase  "  was  a  hollow 
shell  filled  with  some  combustible  substance  which 
burned  violently  and  was  not  easily  extinguished 
— a  veritable  "  Greek  fire." 

This  shell  was  used  solely  for  incendiary  pur- 
poses, although  a  somewhat  similar  shell,  a 
"  ground-light  "  ball,  was  used  for  lighting  up 
the  enemy's  position  at  night.  These  shells  were 
only  used  at  close  range  and  usually  thrown  into 
a  space  where  the  enemy  was  suspected  of  at- 
tempting to  approach  by  stealth,  or  used  to  detect 

[45] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

parties  of  the  enemy's  workmen.  On  striking  the 
ground  these  shells  burst  into  brilliant  flames 
which  burned  for  several  minutes,  lighting  up 
everything  about  them  for  a  considerable  dis- 
tance. 

Another  shell  used  for  the  same  purpose  was 
what  is  known  as  a .  "  parachute-light  ball,"  which 
was  thrown  into  the  air  over  a  suspected  position. 
This  was  a  very  complicated  projectile,  a  small 
parachute  with  a  fire  ball  attached  being  squeezed 
into  a  thin  case  fitted  with  a  small  charge  of 
powder  ignited  by  a  time  fuse.  The  explosion  of 
this  powder  burst  the  shell  covering  the  para- 
chute, at  the  same  time  setting  off  the  substance 
used  for  giving  a  light,  so  that  the  parachute  with 
its  torch  floated  off,  illuminating  the  field  below. 
Such  projectiles  as  these  are  now  seldom  used, 
the  modern  searchlight  having  for  the  most  part 
replaced  them. 

SOCKET,   SHKAPNEL,  AND  ELONGATED  PROJECTILE 

Another  projectile  invented  early  in  the  history 
of  gunpowder  was  the  war  rocket.  This  projectile 
differs  from  all  the  others  in  the  fact  that  it  is 
self-propelled.  It  is  made  on  the  principle  of  the 
ordinary  rocket  used  for  fireworks,  and  has  a 
larger  bursting  charge  designed  for  scattering 
grape-shot  or  shrapnel.  In  recent  years  these 
rockets  have  been  little  used  in  warfare  except 
against  tribes  of  savages  under  certain  condi- 
tions; but  similar  projectiles  are  still  used  for 

[46] 


PROJECTILES  AND  ARMOR 

casting  a  line  from  ship  to  ship,  or  to  and  from 
shore.  For  this  purpose  they  are  ideal  because 
their  flight  is  slower  and  more  uniform  than  a 
projectile  thrown  by  an  explosive  from  a  gun. 
The  rocket,  dragging  the  cord  after  it  in  its  com- 
paratively slow  flight,  allows  it  time  to  uncoil 
without  breaking;  while  a  cannon  ball  under  the 
same  conditions  would  snap  the  cord  at  the  start. 

One  of  the  most  important  projectiles  still  in 
use  is  the  shrapnel  shell,  or  "  spherical  cased 
shot,"  as  it  was  first  called.  It  was  invented  late 
in  the  eighteenth  century  by  General  Shrapnel 
and  came  into  general  use  in  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury. In  the  battle  of  Vimiera  in  1808,  the  British 
used  these  projectiles  with  telling  effect  against 
the  French,  and  the  general  popularity  of  this 
form  of  shell  may  be  said  to  date  from  that  time. 
The  shrapnel  was  simply  a  modification  of  the 
ordinary  shell,  having  a  quantity  of  small  bullets 
added  to  the  bursting  charge  of  powder,  and  at 
first  mixed  loosely  with  it. 

The  effect  of  this  shell  was  practically  the  same 
as  that  of  grape-shot  or  canister,  but  it  had  the 
great  advantage  that  it  could  be  used  at  long 
range. 

In  the  first  shrapnel  shells,  where  the  bullets 
were  mixed  loosely  with  the  powder,  it  was  found 
that  there  was  a  liability  to  premature  explosion, 
due  to  the  friction  between  the  bullets  and  the 
surrounding  powder.  To  obviate  this  the  bursting 
charge  and  the  bullets  were  given  separate  com- 
partments in  the  shell,  and  this  arrangement 

[47] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

proved  entirely  satisfactory,  and  is  the  one  still 
in  use. 

The  effect  of  the  introduction  of  rifled  guns  was 
as  revolutionary  upon  projectiles  as  it  was  upon 
the  guns  themselves.  This  revolution  was  not  so 
much  in  the  kind  of  shells  as  in  the  shape  and 
structure  of  new  projectiles,  solid  shot,  shells, 
and  shrapnel  remaining  in  use  but  in  modified 
forms.  When  smooth-bore  pieces  were  in  use 
there  was  little  chance  for  variation  in  size  and 
shape  of  projectiles,  the  weight  of  the  spherical 
shot  being  determined  by  the  diameter  of  the  bore. 
But  with  rifled  bore  came  elongated  shot. 

The  resistance  afforded  by  the  atmosphere  to 
an  elongated,  pointed  projectile  was  less  than  to 
a  round  one  of  equal  diameter,  whereas,  the  dif- 
ference in  the  weights  of  the  two  might  be  very 
great.  With  this  increase  of  weight  in  the  pro- 
jectile without  a  corresponding  increase  in  at- 
mospheric resistance,  a  greater  velocity  could  be 
attained;  and  the  increase  in  the  velocity  of  the 
projectile  allowed  a  flatter  trajectory,  which  of 
course  added  greatly  to  the  accuracy  in  firing. 

Another  important  advantage  of  the  elongated 
projectile  over  the  spherical  was  the  fact  that  its 
capacity  for  holding  the  bursting  charge  and 
missiles  was  greatly  increased;  the  killing  effect 
of  the  shrapnel  fired  from  the  rifled  cannon,  for 
example,  being  much  greater  than  the  shell  of  a 
muzzle-loader  of  the  same  caliber  because  of  the 
increased  number  of  bullets  it  carried. 

In  the  muzzle-loading  rifled  ordnance  a  great 
[48] 


PROJECTILES  AND  ARMOR 

obstacle  was  encountered  in  manufacturing  a  pro- 
jectile which  would  take  the  rifling  of  the  piece  in 
the  way  necessary  to  acquire  the  rotary  motion. 
It  is  obvious  that  a  projectile  large  enough  so  that 
it  fitted  the  grooves  tightly  could  not  be  forced 
along  the  barrel  of  the  piece  by  ordinary  methods 
of  loading.  To  overcome  this,  but  at  the  same 
time  to  insure  the  spin  of  the  shot,  the  projectile 
was  fitted  with  studs  or  ribs  of  some  soft  metal, 
such  as  copper,  accurately  placed  so  that  they 
could  run  in  the  grooves  of  the  rifling. 

By  this  arrangement  loading  the  piece  was 
made  comparatively  easy,  but  there  was  still  the 
defect  that  there  was  a  great  amount  of  "  wind- 
age. "  The  studs  of  the  rifling  overcame  to  a  cer- 
tain extent  the  rebounds  of  the  projectile  in  the 
barrel,  but  there  was  a  considerable  loss  of  power 
due  to  the  escape  of  gas  about  the  shot. 

The  escaping  gas  not  only  represented  so  much 
lost  energy,  but  had  a  deleterious  effect  upon  the 
metal  of  the  barrel. 

To  overcome  this  a  soft  metal  ring,  or  disk,  of 
copper  was  placed  at  the  base  of  the  projectile,  so 
arranged  that  the  explosion  of  the  powder  acting 
upon  it  spread  it,  causing  it  to  fill  the  grooves  at 
the  instant  of  firing  before  the  inertia  of  the  shot 
had  been  overcome.  This  device,  known  as  a  gas 
check,  was  found  to  work  very  satisfactorily  in 
preventing  the  escape  of  gas.  It  was  found  also 
that  it  would  act  in  rotating  the  projectile,  so  that 
the  studs  were  no  longer  necessary  on  projectiles 
fitted  with  this  type  of  gas  check.  The  studs, 

[49] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

however,  did  not  go  out  of  use  entirely  until  the 
general  introduction  of  breech-loading  cannon. 

There  was  another  great  advantage  in  the  use 
of  soft  metal  gas  checks.  In  the  rifled  weapon, 
through  the  bore  of  which  the  metal  projectile  is 
squeezed  with  great  force  at  each  discharge,  there 
is  unavoidable  wearing  of  the  rifling,  and  a  slight 
increase  in  the  size  of  the  bore.  With  the  studded 
projectile  this  was  difficult  to  overcome,  the 
loosely  fitting  shot  increasing  the  windage  so  that 
the  gun  that  had  been  in  use  for  some  time  grad- 
ually lost  some  of  its  energy  in  propelling  the 
projectile. 

When  the  soft  metal  gas  check  was  used,  how- 
ever, this  difficulty  could  be  overcome  simply  by 
increasing  the  thickness  of  the  band  of  copper  at 
the  base,  thus  maintaining  a  uniform  range  and 
accuracy  of  the  gun. 

AEMOR-PIEECING  PROJECTILES 

The  introduction  of  armor  plates,  which  re- 
sisted the  ordinary  shot  and  shell  projectiles, 
necessitated  the  introduction  of  a  new  projectile. 

One  of  the  first  of  such  projectiles  was  designed 
by  Major  Palliser  in  1863, — a  projectile  so  satis- 
factory that  modifications  of  it  are  still  in  use. 
The  Palliser  projectiles  were  explosive,  but  were 
not  dependent  upon  a  fuse  for  their  explosion. 
The  bursting  charge  contained  in  the  shell  was  so 
arranged  that  at  the  moment  of  discharge  of  the 
cannon  this  charge  flew  back  against  the  base  of 

[50] 


PROJECTILES  AND  ARMOR 

the  shell  and  was  compressed  into  a  solid  cake  and 
held  there  during  the  flight  of  the  shot.  At  the 
moment  of  impact  of  the  shell  against  some  solid 
substance,  such  as  the  side  of  the  iron  battle  ship, 
the  exploding  charge  was  thrown  against  the  an- 
terior walls  of  the  chamber  containing  it,  the  fric- 
tion and  heat  thus  engendered  causing  it  to  ex- 
plode. 

The  destructive  effect  of  such  shot,  fired  with 
sufficient  velocity  to  pierce  the  iron  side  of  the 
older  battle  ships,  was  enormous,  the  shell  explod- 
ing at  the  moment  of  piercing  the  plate,  sweeping 
everything  before  it. 

Owing  to  the  great  improvement  which  has 
taken  place  in  the  manufacture  of  armor  since  the 
time  of  Palliser's  invention  these  shells  have 
gradually  been  supplanted  for  use  in  armor  pierc- 
ing. Shot  specially  hardened  have  been  intro- 
duced, but  the  Palliser  projectile,  or  a  similar 
type  of  shell,  owing  to  its  simplicity  and  its  rela- 
tive cheapness,  is  still  in  use,  for  certain  purposes, 
with  certain  modifications  to  meet  new  conditions 
that  have  arisen. 

The  projectiles  in  use  at  the  present  time  in 
modern  breech-loading  ordnance  differ  very  little 
from  those  used  in  the  best  type  of  rifled  muzzle- 
loaders. 

Constant  improvements  have  been  made  and  are 
being  made  in  the  details  of  their  structure,  and 
in  the  explosives  used  in  them;  but  these  details 
do  not  materially  affect  the  general  principles  in- 
volved. Common  shells,  shrapnel,  case-shot,  and 

[51] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

armor-piercing  shot  are  still  the  projectiles  of 
the  artilleryman.  Every  country  has  its  own  pe- 
culiar ideas  in  the  manufacture  of  these  pro- 
jectiles, and  all  are  attempting  to  improve  upon 
them;  so  that,  obviously,  any  attempt  to  give  any 
detailed  account  of  the  different  projectiles  used 
in  various  countries  is  far  beyond  the  scope  of 
the  present  work.  It  will  suffice  for  our  purpose, 
therefore,  to  give  a  general  description  of  the 
more  common  types  of  modern  projectiles  in  use 
by  some  of  the  leading  powers. 

What  are  known  as  the  "  common  "  shells  are 
simply  modifications  of  the  hollow  projectiles 
filled  with  explosives  and  fitted  with  a  fuse  placed 
either  in  the  nose  or  the  base,  which  are  depend- 
ent upon  the  destructive  effects  of  their  explosion 
for  their  efficiency.  They  are  made,  therefore, 
with  the  greatest  possible  cavity  for  containing 
the  explosive  consistent  with  the  necessary 
strength  of  the  shell  wall. 

Case-shot  are  made  of  thin  metal  cases  made 
sufficiently  strong  to  resist  the  action  of  the  dis- 
charge without  breaking  and  are  filled  with  small 
bullets  and  a  small  explosive  charge.  They  are 
fitted  with  time  fuses  which  cause  them  to  ex- 
plode at  certain  distances,  or  with  percussion 
fuses  which  explode  them  at  the  moment  of  im- 
pact against  some  resistant  body. 

Shrapnel  shells,  like  the  case-shot,  are  essen- 
tially man-killing  projectiles  of  little  use  against 
fortifications  or  protected  troops.  They  are,  how- 
ever, ideal  projectiles  for  field  guns,  which  now 

[52] 


PROJECTILES  AND  ARMOR 

use  them  to  th£  exclusion  of  all  other  forms  of 
shells.  The  great  advantage  of  this  kind  of  shell 
over  the  case-shot,  for  example,  is  that  it  can  be 
fired  with  great  accuracy  at  long  or  short  range 
and  timed  to  explode  at  any  desired  point.  The 
bursting  charge  of  the  shell  is  at  the  base,  the 
shape  and  structure  of  this  base  resembling  the 
breech  of  the  old-fashioned  cannon.  In  front  of 
this  bursting  charge  are  the  bullets,  almost  filling 
the  shell,  the  whole  held  in  place  by  a  top  piece, 
into  which  the  time  fuse  is  inserted  communicat- 
ing with  the  bursting  charge  by  a  tube  through 
the  center  of  the  shell. 

In  firing  this  shell  the  fuse  is  set  so  as  to  ignite 
the  bursting  charge  sixty  or  eighty  yards  short 
of  the  target. 

At  the  moment  of  discharge,  therefore,  the 
shrapnel  shell  is  in  effect  a  small  howitzer  firing 
grape-shot  at  point-blank  range.  The  bullets  so 
fired  stream  forward  in  a  cone-shaped  shower 
covering  the  large  circular  area  with  most  de- 
structive effect. 

Another  recent  type  of  shell  is  one  containing  a 
high  explosive,  an  example  of  which  became  popu- 
lar during  the  Boer  War  in  South  Africa  as  the 
lyddite  shell. 

This  shell  resembles  the  common  shell  in  its 
general  structure,  being  simply  a  hollow  piece  of 
metal  containing  a  charge  of  lyddite.  It  is  not 
used  with  the  time  fuse,  however,  but  is  dependent 
upon  a  percussion  fuse  for  its  explosion.  Its 
destructive  effects  are  due  to  the  enormous  energy 

[53] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

of  the  explosion  of  the  lyddite,  which  is  something 
like  three  times  as  great  as  that  of  ordinary 
powder. 

The  result  of  the  enormous  force  of  this  sudden 
explosion  is  to  shatter  the  shell  into  a  great  num- 
ber of  fragments  ranging  in  size  from  mere  splin- 
ters to  pieces  of  three  or  four  pounds  in  weight. 
A  shell  of  the  same  size  loaded  with  ordinary 
powder  would  be  torn  into  fewer  fragments  of 
much  larger  size.  The  effect  of  the  bursting  of 
the  lyddite  shell,  therefore,  is  the  destruction  of 
everything  about  it  for  a  considerable  distance, 
making  it  a  most  effective  projectile. 

Lyddite  is  only  one  of  several  high  explosives 
either  in  use  or  being  experimented  with  at  the 
present  time,  but  the  principle  upon  which  all  such 
explosives  act  is  the  same.  Both  Eussians  and 
Japanese  used  similar  high-explosive  shells  in 
their  recent  war,  the  explosive  used  by  the  Jap- 
anese being  even  more  powerful  than  that  of  the 
British  lyddite.  The  use  of  explosives  in  the 
still  more  recent  European  conflict  will  be  re- 
ferred to  more  at  length  in  another  connection. 

STEEL   AEMOB 

The  struggle  for  supremacy  to-day  between 
armor  and  projectile  is  the  same  in  modified  form 
that  has  been  going  on  always  between  methods 
of  attack  and  defense.  Neither  one  has  been  able 
to  gain  and  maintain  a  material  advantage  for 
any  very  great  length  of  time,  improvements  in 

[54] 


PROJECTILES  AND  ARMOR 

one  always  producing  compensating  improve- 
ments in  the  other. 

On  the  general  introduction  of  iron  for  armor 
plating  two  great  difficulties  were  encountered  in 
both  plates  and  projectiles.  Hard  iron  or  steel 
plates  were  easily  shattered  and  rendered  worth- 
less by  shot,  while  the  same  impact  shattered  the 
shot  itself,  preventing  penetration.  Soft,  tough 
iron  plates  could  not  be  shattered,  but  they  failed 
to  shatter  a  hard  steel  projectile,  and  unless  made 
of  great  thickness  could  be  pierced. 

On  land  this  difficulty  was  not  so  serious,  but  for 
the  turrets  and  armor  belts  of  battle  ships  there 
was  necessarily  a  weight  limit,  and  a  combination 
of  some  form  of  metal  that  was  both  hard  and 
tough  was  diligently  sought.  Steel  had  so  many 
advantages,  however,  that  particular  attention 
was  given  to  discovering  some  method  of  render- 
ing it  tougher  without  lessening  its  hardness  too 
much. 

At  first  steel  plates  were  cemented  on  wrought 
iron  backs,  such  compound  plates  giving  fairly 
good  results ;  but  as  a  rule  the  wrought  iron  failed 
to  give  adequate  and  dependable  support  to  the 
steel  facing. 

Naturally  this  arrangement  suggested  the  pos- 
sibility of  producing  tough  armor  with  a  hard- 
ened surface  in  a  single  piece  of  metal ;  and  very 
shortly  Captain  Trisidder  in  Europe,  and  Harvey 
in  America,  solved  this  problem  independently. 

By  the  time  when  Trisidder  and  Harvey  discov- 
ered the  process  of  hardening  the  surface  of 

[55] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

steel,  some  advantage  seemed  to  have  been  gained 
by  projectiles  over  armor.  But  this  advantage 
lay  in  the  fact  that  it  had  become  possible  to 
harden  the  point  and  outer  surface  of  steel  pro- 
jectiles— the  desideratum  sought  in  the  manufac- 
ture of  armor.  This  hardening  process  of  the 
surface  was  accomplished  by  treatment  with 
water  and  oil,  the  surface  of  the  projectile  becom- 
ing hardened  while  the  interior  remained  tough 
and  relatively  soft. 

But  about  1890  Trisidder  and  Harvey  discov- 
ered independently  that  by  applying  streams  of 
water  to  the  heated  surface  of  a  tough  steel  plate 
it  would  harden  to  a  depth  of  several  inches. 

The  processes  employed  by  the  two  discoverers 
were  somewhat  different  in  details,  each  having 
its  advantages  and  its  defects,  but  the  two  soon  be- 
came combined,  and  the  resulting  "  Harvey ed  >: 
or  "  Harveyized  "  steel  was  adopted  for  armor 
plates  in  Europe  and  America  about  1892. 

Against  this  new  armor  the  hard-shelled  pro- 
jectiles were  shattered  without  very  great  pene- 
tration and  without  cracking  or  shattering  the 
plate. 

By  a  curious  accident,  however,  it  was  discov- 
ered that  there  was  a  way  by  which  a  steel  shot 
would  pierce  Harveyed  armor.  If  a  plate  of  soft 
iron  of  some  two  inches  in  thickness  was  placed 
over  the  hardened  skin  of  the  plate  and  a  steel 
shot  fired  against  it,  the  plate  that  had  resisted 
such  shot  could  now  be  perforated.  The  explana- 
tion of  this  anomaly  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  iron, 

[56] 


PROJECTILES  AND  ARMOR 

which,  was  soft  enough  to  be  pierced  by  the  point 
of  the  shot,  affords  sufficient  lateral  support  to 
prevent  the  shot  from  shattering. 

In  other  words,  here  was  the  paradox  of  a  Har- 
veyed  steel  turret  of  thickness  to  resist  steel  shot, 
and  thus  invulnerable,  made  vulnerable  by  the 
addition  of  a  greater  thickness  of  metal. 

Naturally  this  discovery  at  once  suggested  the 
possibility  of  combining  the  layer  of  soft  iron 
with  the  hard  skin  of  the  shell  itself;  but  although 
such  attempts  had  been  made  even  before  the  dis- 
covery of  the  Harvey  process,  it  was  not  until 
1894  that  shells  of  this  kind  were  perfected.  Such 
caps  of  soft  metal  on  shot  are  of  course  neces- 
sarily thin  and  do  not  act  as  effectively  as  when 
a  wide  belt  of  metal  is  placed  over  the  armor ;  but 
nevertheless,  they  are  very  effective,  and  have 
served  as  a  check  to  the  momentary  advantage 
gained  by  armor. 

The  discovery  of  the  Harvey  process  for  hard- 
ening armor  was  followed  almost  immediately  by 
another  even  more  important  one.  At  the  same 
time  that  Trisidder  and  Harvey  were  perfecting 
their  processes,  experiments  were  going  on  at 
Annapolis  with  steel  plates  containing  a  certain 
per  cent,  of  nickel,  which  was  found  to  give  tough- 
ness to  the  steel  without  preventing  hardening 
of  the  surface.  Nickel  steel  was  therefore  intro- 
duced tentatively  into  American  armor. 

The  process  of  manufacture  of  nickel  steel, 
however,  was  not  entirely  satisfactory,  the  results 
obtained  being  far  from  uniform  at  times,  until 

[57] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

finally  solved  by  the  great  German  gunmaker, 
Krupp. 

At  the  World's  Fair  in  Chicago  in  1893  Krupp 
exhibited  some  pieces  of  armor  plate  which  had 
been  tested  with  projectiles  of  various  sizes. 
None  of  these  projectiles  had  penetrated  or 
cracked  the  plate.  This  exhibit  commanded  the 
attention  of  the  entire  military  world,  and,  fur- 
ther successful  tests  having  been  made,  "  Krupp 
steel  "  came  into  general  use  as  superior  to  any 
other  material  hitherto  devised  for  the  making  of 
armor  plate. 


[58] 


IV 

PROGRESS  IN  NAVAL  GUNS  AND  PRO- 
JECTILES TO  THE  TIME  OF  THE 
BREECH-LOADER 

THE  advantage  of  cannon  on  shipboard  was 
recognized  early  in  the  history  of  firearms, 
and  what  has  been  said  in  regard  to  the  de- 
velopment of  land  cannon  applies,  with  slight 
modifications,  to  naval  ordnance  as  well. 

With  the  cannon  themselves  there  was  prac- 
tically no  difference  for  many  years,  the  modifi- 
cations lying  chiefly  in  the  gun  carriages.  For 
many  years  after  field  ordnance  had  been  mounted 
on  wheels,  the  crude  naval  gun  carriage,  consist- 
ing of  blocks  of  wood  fastened  together  with  lynch 
pins,  and  held  in  place  on  the  deck  of  the  ship  by 
means  of  ropes,  remained  in  use;  and  it  was  not 
until  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne  in  England  that 
any  marked  improvements  were  made  in  naval 
gun  carriages. 

Then  the  two-wheeled  truck,  and  the  four- 
wheeled  truck  came  into  use;  and  they  remained 
in  use,  practically  unchanged  except  for  slight 
modifications,  until  recent  years. 

As  early  as  1637,  during  the  reign  of  Charles  I, 
three-decked  vessels  were  used,  one  of  these  ves- 

[59] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

sels,  the  Sovereign  of  the  Seas,  carrying  one  hun- 
dred and  two  brass  cannon  arranged  on  its  triple 
decks.  At  this  time,  and  until  about  the  end  of 
the  seventeenth  century,  the  nomenclature  of 
cannon  was  most  complicated,  and  it  was  not  until 
about  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century  that  a 
simple  method  of  designating  the  kind  of  cannon 
by  the  weight  of  the  projectile  came  into  use. 
Until  that  time  such  names  as  "  culverin," 
"  demi-eulverin,"  "  saker,"  etc.,  were  used  to  in- 
dicate eighteen-pounders,  nine-pounders,  and  six- 
pounders,  respectively;  and  these  were  but  a  few 
of  the  endless  variety  of  names  applied  to  various 
types  of  guns  from  the  little  swivel  cannon  to  the 
heaviest  ordnance. 

But  soon  after  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth 
century  it  became  customary  to  refer  to  guns  by 
the  weight  of  their  projectile  or  by  the  diameter 
of  their  bore,  and  this  nomenclature  has  continued 
in  use,  with  certain  modifications,  since  that  time. 
The  heavier  guns,  such  as  the  twelve-inch,  are 
designated  by  the  size  of  bore,  while  the  smaller 
ones  are  named  from  the  weight  of  their  pro- 
jectile. 

Early  in  the  history  of  cannon,  changes  were 
made  in  the  method  of  loading  naval  guns  to  over- 
come conditions  on  shipboard  which  were  not  met 
with  on  land.  The  favorite  method  of  loading 
land  artillery  was  to  introduce  the  powder  by  a 
long-handled  scoop,  or  ladle,  made  in  the  form 
of  the  ordinary  flour  scoop  fastened  to  the  end  of 
a  pole  long  enough  to  reach  from  the  muzzle  to 

[60] 


NAVAL  GUNS  AND  PROJECTILES 

the  base  of  the  gun,  the  ladle  being  just  small 
enough  to  enter  the  bore  easily. 

In  loading  with  this  ladle  the  gunner  scooped 
out  the  requisite  amount  of  powder  for  the 
charge,  thrust  it  along  the  barrel  of  the  gun,  and 
then  by  half  a  turn  deposited  it  at  the  breech. 
The  wadding  and  the  ball  were  then  rammed  home 
against  the  powder. 

But  this  method  of  loading  was  found  to  be 
very  unsatisfactory  on  shipboard  on  account  of 
the  rolling  of  the  vessel;  and  paper  cartridges, 
containing  the  proper  amount  of  powder  for  a 
charge,  were  used  as  early  as  the  reign  of  Henry 
VIII  in  England ;  and  cloth  bags  were  substituted 
for  the  paper  cartridges  shortly  after  this  time. 

Between  the  time  of  the  first  three-decked  bat- 
tle ship  and  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury naval  guns  had  been  gradually  assuming 
characteristic  shapes,  and  the  type  known  as  the 
"  carronade  "  had  become  the  favorite  one  by 
the  time  of  Nelson. 

The  name  of  the  gun,  taken  from  the  name  of 
the  inventor,  Carron,  indicated  the  type  of  the 
gun  and  not  the  size  of  its  bore  or  weight  of  the 
projectile. 

The  carronades  used  on  Nelson's  battle  ships 
were  thirty-two  and  forty-two-pounders,  such 
guns  differing  from  guns  of  corresponding  caliber 
used  on  land,  in  being  shorter  and  lighter  in 
weight  in  proportion  to  the  size  of  the  bore,  and 
in  the  method  by  which  they  were  mounted  on  the 
gun  carriage.  In  ordinary  field  pieces  or  fortress 

[61] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

guns,  the  cannon  was  attached  to  its  carriage  by 
means  of  trunnions, — that  is,  cylindrical  pieces  of 
metal  projecting  at  opposite  sides  of  the  barrel 
which  fitted  into  rings  and  grooves  in  the  gun 
carriage.  The  carronade,  however,  had  no 
trunnions,  but  in  place  of  them  an  iron  loop  was 
cast  on  the  underside  of  the  gun  a  little  anterior 
to  its  center  of  gravity,  and  through  this  loop  a 
bolt  was  placed  attaching  the  piece  more  or  less 
securely  to  the  carriage. 

By  this  arrangement  a  vertical  elevation  or  de- 
pression could  be  given  the  gun,  just  as  in  the 
case  of  guns  fitted  with  trunnions;  but  the  space 
occupied  by  the  gun  was  less,  and  the  shortness  of 
the  piece  made  it  easy  to  load  and  train. 

FIBING  THE   CANNON 

For  many  years  after  fire-locks  and  flint-locks 
had  been  in  use  on  small  arms,  the  primitive 
method  of  firing  cannon  by  a  lighted  match  ap- 
plied to  the  vent  hole  continued  in  use  with  little 
improvement.  After  loading  the  cannon  it  was 
primed  through  the  vent  hole  by  fine  powder 
poured  from  an  ordinary  powder  horn  and  was 
then  ready  to  be  discharged  by  the  application  of 
the  match. 

Later  the  method  of  priming  was  improved 
upon  by  making  use  of  tubes  or  quills  filled  with 
powder  and  thrust  into  the  vent  hole. 

In  1781,  however,  Sir  Howard  Douglas  invented 
a  flint-lock  for  use  on  the  guns  of  his  vessels,  this 

[62] 


NAVAL  GUNS  AND  PROJECTILES 

lock  acting  in  practically  the  same  manner  as  the 
flint-locks  on  muskets.  The  practicability  of  these 
locks  was  demonstrated  in  one  of  Bodney's  bat- 
tles shortly  after,  where  the  flint-lock  cannon 
showed  its  superiority  over  the  guns  fired  by  the 
older  method.  In  a  short  time,  therefore,  guns 
were  equipped  with  flint-locks  of  various  patterns, 
a  favorite  one  being  the  double-flinted  lock,  also 
invented  by  Douglas.  These  locks  remained  in 
use  for  many  years  after  the  invention  and  per- 
fection of  the  percussion  cap,  and  it  was  not  until 
about  1842  that  the  flint-lock  was  superseded  by 
the  percussion  lock.  Then  the  invention  of  a  per- 
cussion lock  for  cannon  by  an  American  named 
Hidden  proved  so  satisfactory  that  the  flint-lock 
went  out  of  use. 

Several  years  before  this  time  the  flint-lock  for 
small  arms  had  passed  out  of  use;  but  adapting 
the  new  percussion  lock  to  heavy  ordnance  proved 
a  more  difficult  problem.  The  same  cap-nipple 
arrangement  which  worked  so  admirably  on 
muskets  could  not  be  applied  for  discharging 
heavy  ordnance,  as  the  large  vent  hole  in  the 
cannon  allowed  such  an  escape  of  gas  at  the  mo- 
ment of  discharge  that  it  frequently  destroyed 
the  hammer,  rendering  the  piece  temporarily 
useless. 

Different  types  of  locks  had  been  invented  to 
overcome  this  vital  defect,  but  none  proved  satis- 
factory until  the  invention  of  Hidden.  He  de- 
vised a  lock  which  was  so  arranged  that  by  a  pull 
of  the  lanyard  the  hammer  was  made  to  fall  upon 

[63] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

the  cap,  explode  it,  and  slip  instantly  out  of  range 
of  the  vent  hole. 

The  arrangement  of  the  hammer  of  this  lock 
was  simplicity  itself,  no  spring  being  used,  the 
weight  of  the  hammer  sufficing  to  explode  the  cap. 
It  was  placed  on  the  breech  of  the  cannon  imme- 
diately behind  the  vent  hole,  pivoted  so  as  to 
work  up  and  down  in  the  manner  of  the  ordinary 
hammer,  but  the  pivot  hole,  instead  of  being  the 
usual  circular  opening,  was  made  in  the  form  of  a 
slot.  By  this  arrangement  the  single  pull  of  the 
cord  that  rotated  the  hammer  about  the  axis 
formed  by  the  pivot  and  the  base  of  the  slot  also 
pulled  the  hammer  out  of  range  of  the  vent  hole 
after  striking  the  cap,  the  fraction  of  a  second 
intervening  between  the  explosion  of  the  cap  and 
the  ignition  of  the  powder  in  the  chamber  being 
sufficient  time  to  allow  this. 

The  Hidden  hammer  at  once  became  the  popu- 
lar one  among  naval  gunners,  and  for  twenty 
years  was  practically  without  a  rival. 

About  1862,  however,  a  new  type  of  exploding 
mechanism  came  into  use  and  quickly  superseded 
the  Hidden  hammer.  This  was  an  arrangement 
called  a  "  friction  tube,"  whereby  the  necessity 
for  a  lock  of  any  kind  was  done  away  with,  the 
friction  tube  acting  as  a  cap  and  lock  combined. 
This  tube  was  a  modified  form  of  the  old  quill, 
or  tube  priming,  with  the  addition  of  a  percus- 
sion cap  at  the  top  which  could  be  exploded  by 
the  friction  of  a  piece  of  wire  arranged  to  rub 
against  fulminating  powder  by  a  pull  of  the 

[64] 


NAVAL  GUNS  AND  PROJECTILES 

lanyard.  It  could  be  used  in  the  vent  hole  on  any 
piec6  of  ordnance,  the  tubes  varying  in  length 
and  size  according  to  the  thickness  of  the  breech 
of  the  gun  for  which  they  were  designed. 

In  using  this  friction  tube  the  soldier  whose 
duty  was  to  fire  the  piece  thrust  the  tube  into  the 
vent  hole  after  the  piece  was  loaded,  and  exploded 
it  by  a  jerk  of  the  lanyard.  The  tube  was  thrown 
away  after  firing,  the  gunner  making  ready  an- 
other tube  while  the  piece  was  being  loaded,  by 
simply  fastening  the  lanyard  to  a  fresh  tube  by 
means  of  a  hook-and-eye  arrangement  made  for 
that  purpose.  By  this  arrangement  little  time 
was  lost  between  loading  and  priming  the  piece; 
for  by  the  simple  process  of  thrusting  the  tube 
into  the  vent  hole  the  piece  was  ready  for  dis- 
charging. 

On  the  introduction  of  breech-loading  cannon 
the  friction  tube  was  replaced  by  the  electric  and 
percussion  fuses,  but  friction  tubes  are  still  in 
use  on  some  of  the  older  cannon. 

EAELY   GUN   SIGHTS 

Even  at  an  early  day  in  the  history  of  gun- 
powder crude  sights  were  in  use  on  some  types  of 
cannon;  but  it  was  many  years  after  the  perfec- 
tion of  accurate  sights  on  rifles  and  smooth-bore 
muskets  that  such  sights  came  into  general  use  for 
heavy  ordnance. 

This  is  probably  explained  by  the  fact  that  the 
target  of  the  artilleryman  was  usually  a  large  one, 

[65] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

such  as  a  fortress,  a  ship,  or  a  body  of  soldiers, 
and  not  a  single  soldier  as  in  the  case  of  the  tar- 
get for  musketeer  or  rifleman,  and  accurate  aim 
was  not  considered  essential.  The  gunner,  there- 
fore, laid  his  piece  by  pointing  it  in  the  direction 
he  wished  to  fire,  taking  a  rough  aim  by  sighting 
along  the  top  of  the  barrel  in  an  imaginary  line 
parallel  with  the  bore  of  the  piece.  With  such  a 
weapon  as  the  musket,  where  the  external  sur- 
face of  the  barrel  was  practically  parallel  with 
the  bore,  something  approximating  accurate  aim 
might  be  taken  in  this  manner  even  without 
sights;  but  in  the  case  of  heavy  ordnance,  where 
the  surface  sloped  from  the  thick  base  to  the  com- 
paratively thin  muzzle,  even  approximately  ac- 
curate aim  was  out  of  question. 

It  was  many  years,  however,  before  any  kind 
of  sights  came  into  use,  particularly  on  naval 
ordnance,  where  the  movement  of  the  ship  inter- 
fered with  accurate  shooting. 

By  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  sights 
were  coming  into  use  for  cannon  used  on  land, 
but  naval  men  still  rejected  them.  In  1801  Lord 
Nelson  gave  as  a  reason  for  rejecting  sights  the 
fact  that  his  ships  "  would  be  able,  as  usual,  to 
get  so  close  to  our  enemies  that  our  shot  cannot 
miss  the  object."  Nelson's  view  expresses  the 
sentiment  of  the  leading  naval  men  of  the  time, 
and  the  record  of  his  gunners  was  a  sufficient 
answer  to  all  arguments.  Furthermore,  in  view 
of  the  erratic  shooting  of  the  short,  smooth-bore 
cannon  used  on  shipboard  at  the  time,  it  is  prob- 

[66] 


NAVAL  GUNS  AND  PROJECTILES 

able  that  accurate  aiming  by  the  gun  sight  would 
have  made  little  difference  in  the  number  of  hits 
scored;  and  the  time  lost  by  such  sighting  was 
most  precious  in  the  heat  of  an  action  where  firing 
was  at  point-blank  at  only  four  or  five  hundred 
yards  at  most. 

The  amount  of  vertical  elevation  or  depression, 
however,  had  been  roughly  provided  for  at  that 
time  by  the  arrangement  of  the  gun  carriage  so 
that  the  gunner  had  simply  to  point  his  piece 
within  the  space  measured  by  the  length  of  the 
enemy's  ship — a  comparatively  easy  thing  to  do 
even  without  sights. 

EARLY   NAVAL   GUN   CARRIAGES 

Until  our  own  generation  the  changes  in  naval 
gun  carriages  during  the  two  preceding  centuries 
were  of  little  importance,  the  general  type  remain- 
ing the  same  during  that  time.  Guns  of  the  car- 
ronade  type,  with  a  loop  and  pivot  in  place  of 
trunnions,  required  a  somewhat  different  type  of 
carriage  from  the  trunnion  guns,  but  this  was  an 
unimportant  detail  not  affecting  the  general  prin- 
ciple involved. 

The  ordinary  naval  gun  carriage  was  made  in 
the  following  manner:  The  sides  were  made  of 
two  heavy  pieces  of  timber,  called  brackets,  held 
together  by  a  cross-piece  on  which  the  trunnions 
rested  in  grooves  cut  in  the  top  for  that  purpose, 
being  held  in  place  by  straps  or  loops  of  metal. 
The  brackets  were  cut  into  three  or  more  steps  at 

[67] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

the  top  and  back,  so  that  an  iron  bar  resting  on 
these  steps,  and  passed  under  the  breech  of  the 
gun,  could  be  used  for  elevating  the  piece,  and 
could  also  be  used  as  a  lever  for  training  it  from 
left  to  right.  But  this  iron  bar,  or  handspike,  was 
not  used  in  maintaining  the  elevation  for  firing, 
but  simply  for  raising  the  breech  so  that  the 
"  quoin, "  a  wedge-shaped  block  of  wood,  could 
be  slipped  under  to  the  proper  place  for  obtaining 
the  correct  elevation.  This  quoin  was  marked  in 
degrees,  so  that,  the  distance  of  the  target  having 
been  determined,  the  elevation  was  obtained 
quickly  by  sliding  it  into  the  point  indicated  by 
the  markings. 

It  was  this  arrangement,  referred  to  a  moment 
ago,  that  made  it  necessary  for  the  gunner  to 
guess  at  the  elevation  in  training  the  gun,  as  that 
was  fixed  by  the  quoin. 

The  recoil  of  the  gun  was  controlled  by  ropes, 
passed  through  an  eye  made  for  that  purpose  on 
the  breech  of  the  gun,  and  fastened  to  the  sides 
of  the  vessel  by  rings  or  staples.  This  rope  ar- 
rangement was  called  the  breeching,  and  was 
given  a  sufficient  length  so  that  it  stopped  the  gun 
in  its  recoil  at  a  point  where  the  muzzle  was  just 
inside  the  post,  and  in  a  favorable  position  for 
loading. 

INTRODUCTION   OF   RIFLED   GUNS 

Such  was  the  condition  of  guns  and  gunnery 
until  about  the  time  of  the  Crimean  War. 

[68] 


NAVAL  GUNS  AND  PROJECTILES 

Then  activity  in  gunmaking  was  revived,  rifled 
weapons  were  introduced,  and  with  them  began 
the  struggle  between  modern  armor  and  modern 
projectiles  which  has  gone  on  unceasingly  ever 
since,  each  improvement  of  one  necessitating  com- 
pensating improvements  in  the  other. 

The  development  of  the  rifled  cannon  was 
necessitated  by  the  introduction  of  iron  plate  pro- 
tection on  battle  ships.  The  damage  done  to 
wooden  ships  by  the  shells  thrown  into  them  dur- 
ing the  Crimean  War  aroused  naval  men  to  the 
necessity  of  protecting  ships  against  these 
missiles.  A  solid  shot  which  pierced  the  hull  of 
a  vessel  was  of  relatively  little  consequence  in 
comparison  to  a  shell  which  burst  and  set  fire  to 
the  ship  or  drove  the  gunners  from  their  positions 
by  its  smoke.  To  guard  against  this,  plates  of 
iron  came  into  use  on  the  hulls  of  vessels;  and 
such  plates,  even  when  comparatively  thin,  re- 
sisted the  spherical  shot  of  the  smooth-bore  guns 
fairly  well. 

To  meet  this  advantage  gained  for  the  moment 
by  armor,  attention  was  turned  to  improving  the 
smooth-bore  cannon,  which  had  until  that  time 
been  giving  satisfaction  for  some  five  centuries. 

The  most  vital  defects  in  the  smooth-bore  were 
its  inaccuracy  and  comparative  loss  of  energy  in 
discharging  the  projectile.  These  were  caused 
by  what  is  known  as  the  "  windage, " — that  is, 
the  difference  between  the  size  of  the  bore  and 
the  size  of  the  projectile.  While  this  difference 
was  comparatively  slight  in  well-made  guns  and 

[69] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

closely  fitting  projectiles,  it  was  sufficient,  even 
with  the  most  perfect  cannon  and  shot,  to  cause 
great  loss  in  velocity,  and  irregularity  in  the 
flight  of  the  projectile.  The  spherical  projectile 
thus  lost  energy  in  the  barrel  by  escape  of  gas 
between  it  and  the  bore. 

The  irregularity  of  its  flight  was  caused  by  the 
series  of  irregular  rebounds  which  it  made  in  the 
barrel  of  the  gun  before  leaving  the  muzzle.  As  it 
was  necessarily  a  trifle  smaller  in  diameter  than 
the  bore,  its  center,  as  it  rested  against  the 
powder,  was  slightly  below  the  center  of  the  bore. 
At  the  moment  of  discharge,  therefore,  the  upper 
surface  acted  upon  by  the  powder  was  larger  than 
the  lower.  For  this  reason  the  ball  was  driven 
downward  in  the  barrel  at  the  moment  of  dis- 
charge ;  but  the  rebound  threw  it  at  once  against 
the  upper  surface,  which  again  caused  it  to  re- 
bound, and  so  on  along  the  bore,  its  passage  along 
the  barrel  being  a  series  of  irregular  rebounds 
which  deflected  it  at  the  muzzle. 

Furthermore,  the  bounds  and  rebounds  were 
not  confined  to  the  vertical.  For  the  axis  of  the 
ball  as  it  rested  in  the  chamber  was  not  only 
lower  than  the  center  of  the  bore,  but  almost  in- 
variably to  the  right  or  left  of  it,  so  that  the  gas 
pressure  at  discharge  caused  it  to  rebound  along 
the  barrel  in  a  most  erratic  manner. 

The  particular  rebound  as  it  left  the  muzzle 
determined  the  deflection  in  its  flight,  which  at 
long-range  shooting  might  mean  a  variation  of 
several  yards  before  reaching  the  target.  There 

[70] 


NAVAL  GUNS  AND  PROJECTILES 

was  no  way  of  overcoming  this  or  of  determining 
in  which  direction  the  last  rebound  might  send 
the  projectile,  so  that  shooting  with  any  great 
degree  of  accuracy  was  out  of  the  question. 

The  same  deflection  occurred  if  an  elongated 
projectile  was  used  in  a  smooth-bore  gun,  with  the 
additional  disadvantage  that  such  a  projectile 
tended  to  turn  over  and  over  in  its  flight,  possibly 
striking  sidewise  against  the  target,  and  thus 
offering  a  greater  resisting  surface  than  the 
spherical  projectile.  If  it  could  be  kept  point 
foremost,  a  conical  ball  was,  of  course,  an  ideal 
shape  for  armor  piercing  and  fay  giving  it  a 
rotary  spin  this  could  be  accomplished.  Both 
these  things  were  possible  in  a  rifled  bore  where 
the  grooves  were  cut  spirally  in  the  barrel.  But 
gunmakers  in  all  European  nations  had  been  ex- 
perimenting many  years  with  such  rifled  weapons 
before  anything  like  satisfactory  results  were 
obtained. 

Two  officers,  Wahrenhorfr",  a  Swede,  and  Ca- 
valli,  a  Sardinian,  each  invented  a  breech-loading 
rifle  cannon  about  1846.  But  although  these  guns 
shot  with  greater  force  and  accuracy  than  the 
ordinary  smooth-bore,  they  had  some  minor  de- 
fects and  were  never  perfected. 

In  1854,  however,  William  Armstrong  (after- 
wards Lord  Armstrong)  submitted  to  the  British 
government  a  design  for  a  new  type  of  rifled 
cannon,  which  was  at  once  adopted.  It  departed 
from  the  guns  then  in  general  use  in  three  par- 
ticulars— it  was  a  "  built-up  "  gun,  a  breech- 

[71] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

loader,  and  rifled.  And  while  it  was  destined 
presently  to  go  out  of  use  and  be  replaced  by 
rifled  muzzle-loading  pieces,  it  was,  nevertheless, 
the  prototype  of  the  built-up  breech-loader  now 
in  use  all  over  the  world. 

The  "  building  up  "  of  the  gun  was  necessary 
to  make  it  strong  enough  to  withstand  the  strain 
of  the  detonation  of  the  charge  and  the  passage 
of  the  projectile  along  the  grooves  of  the  barrel, 
which  it  literally  squeezed  through.  The  ordinary 
gun,  cast  in  a  single  piece  of  metal,  was  unable  to 
stand  this  strain  unless  made  of  enormous  thick- 
ness at  the  base.  But  the  danger  in  making  a 
sufficiently  thick  piece  of  casting  lay  in  the 
liability  to  flaws,  which  could  not  be  detected  until 
at  some  future  time  the  piece  burst,  probably  with 
serious  consequences. 

In  place  of  this  heavy  cast-gun,  therefore,  the 
built-up  gun  came  into  use. 

Such  a  gun  consists  of  separate  rings  of  metal, 
"  shrunk  "  on  over  each  other,  in  jackets  or  lay- 
ers, until  the  desired  thickness  of  the  gun  is  at- 
tained. In  making  such  a  gun  the  central  cylinder 
is  made  with  its  outside  diameter  slightly  larger 
than  the  diameter  of  the  tube  of  metal  that  is  to 
form  the  next  jacket.  When  the  jacket  is  heated 
its  diameter  is  increased  just  enough  to  slip  over 
the  inner  cylinder,  so  that  on  cooling  it  clasps  it 
firmly.  About  this  jacket  another  is  shrunk  on  in 
a  similar  manner,  and  this  building  up  by  concen- 
tric rings  repeated,  until  the  required  thickness  is 
obtained,  this  thickness  decreasing,  of  course, 

[72] 


NAVAL  GUNS  AND  PROJECTILES 

from  the  breech,  where  the  greatest  strain  comes, 
to  the  muzzle,  where  the  strain  is  comparatively 
slight. 

When  all  th£  jackets  have  been  shrunk  into 
place,  the  piece  is  bored  out  to  the  desired  caliber, 
rifled,  fitted  with  breech  mechanism,  and  finished 
exteriorly. 

The  making  of  such  a  piece  is  subject  to  many 
variations,  and  is,  of  course,  a  much  more  com- 
plicated process  than  indicated  by  such  a  bare 
description  of  the  principle  involved.  The  kind 
of  explosive  to  be  used,  the  weight  of  the  charge, 
the  use  of  slow-burning  or  quick-burning  powder, 
etc.,  are  all  determining  factors  in  the  manufac- 
ture of  modern  ordnance,  but  these  are  details 
that  will  be  referred  to  later.  The  principle  in- 
volved is  unchanged,  although  in  practice  of  gun 
manufacture  there  are  constant  changes  and  im- 
provements. 

As  was  said  a  moment  ago,  the  Armstrong 
breech-loading  cannon  came  into  use  shortly  after 
the  middle  of  the  last  century.  It  threw  a  lead- 
coated,  iron  projectile,  the  lead  jacket  fitting 
tightly  into  the  rifling  of  the  gun,  thus  centering 
the  projectile  and  doing  away  with  the  windage, 
at  the  same  time  causing  it  to  rotate,  and  so  keep- 
ing it  point  foremost  at  all  times.  This  cannon 
was,  therefore,  more  accurate  and  of  longer  range 
than  its  predecessors.  But  as  yet  the  breech 
mechanism  was  so  crude  that  there  was  practically 
little  saving  in  time  by  this  method  of  breech- 
loading  over  the  best  type  of  muzzle-loaders. 

[73] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

There  was,  moreover,  an  element  of  danger  con- 
nected with  the  use  of  a  gun  with  a  loose  vent 
piece,  and  this  danger  was  so  great  that  these 
guns,  of  the  larger  natures,  were  soon  replaced  by 
muzzle-loading  rifles. 

In  the  bombardment  of  Kagosima  in  1863  by 
the  British,  several  of  the  breech  pieces  of  the 
heavy  guns  were  blown  out,  due  to  the  fact  that 
in  closing  they  had  not  been  screwed  home  tightly. 
The  possibility  of  this  occurring  in  the  heat  of 
an  action,  with  its  disastrous  consequences,  led 
to  the  reintroduction  of  muzzle-loading  guns, 
temporarily,  as  it  proved,  until  a  still  more  se- 
rious accident  to  this  type  of  gun  showed  that 
there  was  even  a  greater  danger  in  using  the 
muzzle-loader  than  with  the  breech-loader. 

By  1864  the  British  navy  had  decided  to  discard 
the  heavy  breech-loading  guns,  and  while  main- 
taining the  same  general  principles  as  to  build- 
ing up  the  rifling,  the  heavy  pieces  were  made 
with  solid  breeches,  to  be  loaded  from  the  muzzle. 
Many  difficulties  had  to  be  overcome,  particularly 
the  windage,  which  was  obviated  with  compara- 
tively little  trouble  in  the  breech-loading  weapon, 
but  by  1875  these  had  been  successfully  overcome. 

Guns  of  immense  size  and  caliber  were  now 
made,  some  of  the  guns  of  the  Inflexible  being 
eighty-ton  guns,  firing  a  projectile  weighing  one 
thousand  seven  hundred  pounds. 

The  land  pieces  eclipsed  even  these,  and  in  1878 
two  one-hundred-ton  guns  were  built,  with  a 
caliber  of  seventeen  and  five-tenths  inches. 

[74] 


NAVAL  GUNS  AND  PROJECTILES 

Within  a  year  from  this  time,  however,  on 
January  2d,  1879,  occurred  an  accident  to  one  of 
the  thirty-eight-ton  muzzle-loaders  on  H.M.S. 
Thunderer,  which  settled  the  question  of  muzzle- 
loader  versus  breech-loader  for  all  time,  as  it  was 
shown  that  similar  accidents  were  likely  to  occur 
at  any  time  with  muzzle-loading  pieces.  The 
Thunderer's  turret  guns  were  being  fired  simul- 
taneously in  practice,  when,  for  some  reason  not 
apparent  at  first,  one  of  them  burst,  killing  or 
maiming  the  members  of  the  gun  crew.  A  board 
of  experts  who  were  appointed  by  the  Admiralty 
to  investigate  this  accident  determined  that  it 
must  have  been  due  to  double-charging  of  the 
piece.  When  the  two  guns  had  been  run  out  for 
firing,  one  of  them  had  missed  fire;  but  this  was 
not  detected,  as  the  concussion  and  smoke  of  the 
single  discharge  is  so  great  in  heavy  ordnance  as 
to  make  the  difference  between  the  discharge  of 
one  and  two  guns  imperceptible. 

Both  guns  were  therefore  run  in,  loaded,  and 
again  discharged,  the  explosion  of  the  two 
charges  of  powder  in  the  doubly-loaded  gun  caus- 
ing it  to  burst. 

The  board  of  inquiry  reached  their  conclusion 
as  to  how  the  accident  occurred  by  purely  theo- 
retical reasoning;  but  to  make  sure  the  Admiralty 
had  the  remaining  gun  brought  home  and  sub- 
jected to  a  number  of  tests.  Every  suggestion  as 
to  how  the  other  guns  might  have  burst  except 
the  double-loading  was  acted  upon,  but  after  fir- 
ing again  and  again  the  gun  still  remained  as 

[75] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

sound  as  ever.  As  a  final  test,  therefore,  it  was 
doubly-loaded  and  discharged.  When  the  smoke 
of  the  discharge  cleared  away  it  was  found  that 
the  gun  had  burst  into  fragments  practically  the 
same  as  those  of  its  unfortunate  turret  com- 
panion. 

These  tests  settled  beyond  question  the  fact  that 
double-charging  was  responsible  for  the  accident ; 
and  as  this  had  occurred  in  practice,  and  would 
be  still  more  likely  to  occur  in  the  excitement  of 
actual  battle,  naval  men  once  more  looked  to  the 
breech-loading  weapon  as  the  safer  of  the  two. 

It  was  apparent  that  the  weakness  in  the  vent 
piece  of  the  breech-loader  could  be  overcome 
more  easily  than  the  possibility  of  double-charg- 
ing the  muzzle-loader. 

In  this  connection  it  is  interesting  to  note  that 
similar  accidents  to  small  arms  have  occurred 
many  times  on  battlefields — many  more  times 
than  can  be  recorded  in  all  probability — where 
muzzle-loading  muskets  were  used.  The  soldier, 
forgetting  to  cap  or  prime  his  gun,  or  the  cap  ex- 
ploding without  firing  the  powder,  would  not 
notice  the  misfire  of  his  weapon  in  the  excite- 
ment and  roar  of  the  battle  about  him.  Thus  a 
new  recruit  in  his  first  experience  of  being  under 
fire  might  easily  forget  to  cap  his  weapon  until 
several  charges  had  been  rammed  home. 

Fortunately  for  such  a  soldier,  the  musket  fires 
a  relatively  smaller  charge  than  the  cannon  in 
comparison  to  the  strength  of  the  barrel,  and 
even  a  triple-charged  gun  seldom  explodes.  The 

[76] 


NAVAL  GUNS  AND  PROJECTILES 

force  of  the  recoil  from  the  overcharged  gun,  how- 
ever, is  terrific,  sometimes  stunning  the  victim, 
dislocating  his  shoulder,  or  breaking  his  collar 
bone.  One  case  is  recorded  in  the  American  Civil 
War  of  a  musket  picked  up  on  a  battlefield  con- 
taining six  charges  of  powder  and  ball.  It  was 
still  uncapped. 

What  might  have  happened  to  its  owner  had  he 
finally  remembered  to  use  a  cap  can  only  be  sur- 
mised. 


[77] 


BBEECH-LOADING  SMALL  AEMS 

THE  glaring  mistakes  made  in  military  pre- 
dictions are  proverbial.     And  the  person 
who  has  the  temerity  to  predict  what  weap- 
ons are  likely  to  be  in  use,  or  what  methods  will 
be  practiced  on  battlefields  a  decade  hence,  is 
treading  on  dangerous  ground. 

An  example  of  this  failure  of  a  prediction  to 
materialize,  showing  how  far  "  scientific  guesses  ' 
may  come  from  the  truth,  is  shown  by  the  history 
of  the  once  much-heralded  Minie  rifle  and  bullet. 

When  this  peculiarly  effective  gun  and  com- 
pound bullet  were  brought  to  the  attention  of 
military  men,  there  were  some  among  them  who 
seriously  predicted  that  this  weapon  would  sup- 
plant light  artillery,  and  revolutionize  military 
methods.  For  the  Minie  rifle  outshot  and  out- 
pointed all  the  light  artillery  then  in  use.  At  the 
same  time  another  rifle  was  being  tried,  which 
excited  comparatively  little  comment.  This  was 
a  single-shot  breech-loading  gun.  But  ultimately 
the  predicted  revolution  was  effected  by  this 
breech-loader,  while  the  Minie  rifle  passed  out  of 
existence  after  having  made  only  a  ripple  in  the 
great  stream  of  military  progress. 

Perhaps  one  reason  for  the  lack  of  enthusiasm 
[78] 


BREECH-LOADING  SMALL  ARMS 

over  the  first  practical  breech-loaders  was  be- 
cause guns  of  somewhat  similar  type  were  not 
novelties  at  the  time.  Since  the  earliest  intro- 
duction of  gunpowder  many  different  kinds  of 
breech-loading  guns  had  been  invented;  but  as 
yet  none  of  them  had  been  brought  to  a  stage  of 
practical  perfection. 

There  were  breech-loading  flint-lock  guns  of 
various  patterns,  for  example,  made  during  the 
latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  still  to 
be  seen  in  museums ;  but  all  of  these  were  defect- 
ive. 

Indeed,  there  was  little  chance  of  inventing  a 
really  practical  breech-loading  military  rifle  until 
some  means  other  than  that  of  flint  and  steel  was 
devised  for  igniting  the  charge  of  powder.  Such 
a  weapon  was  in  use  to  a  limited  extent,  to  be 
sure;  but  later  it  was  abandoned  in  favor  of  the 
old-fashioned  muzzle-loader.  This  gun  was  the  in- 
vention of  John  H.  Hall,  an  American,  who  sub- 
mitted his  invention  to  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment to  be  tested  in  1818-1819.  It  was  thought  to 
be  especially  adapted  to  cavalry  service,  and  some 
regiments  were  armed  with  this  gun,  which  was 
manufactured  at  the  armory  at  Harper's  Ferry. 

At  this  time  the  percussion  cap  was  just  com- 
ing into  use,  and  the  Hall  breech-loader  was  so 
constructed  that  it  could  be  used  with  these  caps 
or  as  a  flint-lock.  It  was  fairly  convenient  for 
loading,  and  had  a  number  of  good  points ;  but  it 
had  the  vital  defect  that  it  was  liable  to  be  dis- 
charged accidentally;  and  after  several  accidents 

[79] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

of  this  nature  had  occurred  the  government  finally 
abandoned  this  gun  for  the  muzzle-loading  car- 
bines. 

In  the  meantime  other  countries  were  making 
extensive  experiments  with  breech-loading  weap- 
ons, the  Scandinavians  in  particular  being  suc- 
cessful. In  these  guns  paper  cartridges  were 
used,  and  with  such  success  that  by  1845  the  Prus- 
sian government  asked  that  the  Scandinavian  gun 
be  tested  against  the  German  muzzle-loader, 
which  was  considered  one  of  the  best  weapons  of 
the  time. 

In  these  tests  the  breech-loader  showed  that  it 
was  the  equal  of  the  older  gun  in  range  and  ac- 
curacy, while  in  rapidity  of  fire  it  completely  out- 
stripped it. 

As  a  result,  a  certain  number  of  these  guns  were 
adopted  in  the  German  army,  which  was  experi- 
menting at  the  same  time  with  the  now  famous 
6 '  needle-gun  " — another  breech-loader,  of  much 
the  same  type.  But  both  these  guns  had  the  same 
defect  in  the  eyes  of  military  experts.  There  was 
an  unavoidable  escape  of  gas  at  the  breech  which 
would,  it  was  thought,  render  them  useless  in  a 
short  time.  Nevertheless  there  were  so  many 
advantages  of  breech-loading  weapons  that,  in 
Prussia  at  least,  they  gained  in  popularity,  until 
the  war  of  1866,  when  the  overwhelming  supe- 
riority of  the  Prussian  needle-gun  over  the  Aus- 
trian muzzle-loader  was  made  apparent  to  every 
nation. 

Five  years  before  this,  to  be  sure,  a  breech- 
[80] 


BREECH-LOADING  SMALL  ARMS 

loading  repeating  magazine  weapon  had  been  used 
successfully  in  the  American  Civil  War.  And 
had  this  war  taken  place  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Atlantic  all  nations  would  undoubtedly  have  been 
familiar  with  the  Spencer  carbine — the  favorite 
weapon  of  the  American  cavalrymen.  But  at  that 
time  the  older  countries  were  loath  to  believe  that 
there  was  much  to  learn  either  of  weapons  or 
warfare  from  across  the  Atlantic.  And  so  the 
Spencer  carbine,  used  in  a  greater  war  than  Eu- 
rope had  ever  had,  by  a  greater  number  of 
cavalrymen  than  any  European  power  possessed, 
did  not  attract  the  attention  to  which  it  was  en- 
titled. 

But  the  few  weeks  of  fighting  in  the  Danish  war 
of  1864  and  the  Austrian  war  of  1866,  in  which  the 
needle-gun  was  used,  brought  that  weapon  into 
prominence  at  once. 

The  needle-gun,  therefore,  is  the  weapon  di- 
rectly responsible  for  the  development  of  modern 
single-shot  military  rifles;  and  in  many  ways  it 
resembled  the  military  rifles  of  to-day.  It  was  a 
rifle  of  the  "  bolt  action"  type,  this  type  of 
breech  system  being  the  one  still  used  most  in 
military  rifles. 

The  mechanism  of  this  gun  as  described  by  a 
contemporary  military  writer  was  as  follows: 
"  It  combines  the  use  of  percussion  with  that  of 
a  peculiar  kind  of  ball,  which  being  conical,  cylin- 
drical at  the  center,  and  round  at  the  larger  end, 
is  a  good  deal  heavier  than  a  sphere  of  the  same 
caliber.  It  becomes  rifled  as  it  passes  through  the 

[81] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

barrel,  and  is  propelled  with  much  greater  force 
than  the  ordinary  rifle  ball,  owing  to  two  causes, 
viz.,  a  suitable  center  of  gravity,  and  the  more 
perfect  ignition  of  the  powder,  which  takes  place 
in  front,  instead  of  behind,  as  formerly,  at  the 
other  end  of  the  charge,  is  accomplished  by  means 
of  a  metal  needle  and  a  spiral  spring. 

"  The  spring  serves  the  purpose  of  a  lock,  and 
by  forcing  the  needle  through  the  charge,  the 
fulminating  powder  explodes  it." 

The  cartridge,  as  will  be  seen,  was  not  made  of 
brass  or  copper,  as  in  the  case  of  modern  car- 
tridges, but  of  heavy  paper,  sufficiently  strong 
to  hold  its  shape,  but  not  firm  enough  to  prevent 
the  necessary  piercing  of  the  firing  pin. 

As  compared  with  the  cartridges  and  lock  ac- 
tion of  the  Spencer  carbine  the  needle  seems  crude 
indeed.  The  long  needle  of  the  lock  had  to  plow 
its  way  through  thick  paper  and  the  entire  charge 
of  powder  before  striking  against  the  fulminat- 
ing powder  at  the  base  of  the  bullet,  while  in  the 
metal  cartridges  used  in  the  Spencer  gun  the  cap 
was  placed  next  the  plunger,  and  the  "  needle  " 
did  not  come  in  contact  with  the  powder  at  all. 
But  shortly  after  the  war  of  1866  the  Prussians 
adopted  the  American  metallic  cartridge,  and  as 
this  got  over  the  escape  of  gas  at  the  breech,  the 
needle-gun  type  of  rifle  became  at  once  the  fa- 
vorite with  most  of  the  military  nations. 

It  is  true  that  during  the  War  of  the  Eebellion 
several  types  of  breech-loading  and  magazine 
guns  besides  the  Spencers  were  in  use  to  a  limited 

[82] 


BREECH-LOADING  SMALL  ARMS 

extent;  but  the  majority  of  troops  engaged  were 
armed  with  muzzle-loaders  to  the  last.  This  was 
not  because  the  merits  of  the  breech-loader  were 
unappreciated,  but  because  there  was  no  time  for 
experimenting  with  new  weapons,  or  rearming  the 
million  and  a  half  men  in  the  field. 

Nevertheless,  during  the  period  covered  by  the 
war,  something  like  twenty-seven  different  va- 
rieties of  breech-loading  or  repeating  rifles  and 
carbines  were  submitted  to  the  government  for 
trial.  Some  of  these  were  excellent  weapons, 
notably  the  Spencer  carbines,  and  all  the  cavalry 
regiments  were  eventually  armed  with  these;  but 
most  of  the  infantry  regiments  continued  to  use 
the  muzzle-loader  until  the  end  of  the  war. 

Breech-loading  sporting  guns  had  been  in  use 
for  years  before  the  adoption  of  the  breech-load- 
ing military  gun.  But  a  type  of  gun  which  may 
be  entirely  satisfactory  for  the  purpose  of  the 
sportsman  does  not  necessarily  meet  the  require- 
ments of  the  soldier.  In  fact,  there  has  always 
been,  and  still  is,  a  general  distinction  between 
types  of  breech-loading  sporting  weapons  and 
breech-loading  military  weapons. 

Ability  to  stand  rough  usage  is  the  essential 
feature  of  the  military  gun,  which  cannot  be  sacri- 
ficed for  any  minor  defects;  while  in  the  sports- 
man's weapon  this  feature  may  be  slighted. 

As  a  result,  very  few  of  military  rifles  are  fa- 
vorites with  the  sportsman,  and  very  few  types  of 
sporting  rifles  find  favor  in  the  eyes  of  military 
experts.  But  as  we  are  directly  concerned  with 

[83] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

the  military,  rather  than  the  sporting  rifle,  the 
numerous  types  must  be  ignored  except  as  they 
have  direct  bearing  upon  the  development  of  mili- 
tary guns. 

Within  five  years  after  the  close  of  the  Ameri- 
can Civil  War  practically  every  civilized  nation 
had  adopted  some  form  of  breech-loading  rifle 
using  the  metallic  cartridge.  The  individual  pat- 
terns of  these  guns. used  by  the  various  nations 
differed  considerably  in  details  of  structure,  but 
all  conformed  to  one  of  three  or  four  general 
types. 

England,  for  example,  had  adopted  the  Mar- 
tini-Henry rifle,  with  the  breech  mechanism 
known  as  the  "  block  "  action.  In  this  gun,  the 
block,  or  breech  piece,  which  is  fitted  at  the 
base  of  the  barrel  just  in  front  of  the  trigger, 
contained  the  lock  and  the  firing  pin  for  striking 
the  cap  of  the  cartridge.  This  block  was 
attached  to  a  lever  on  the  under  side  of  the  stock 
which,  when  pressed  downward  and  forward, 
caused  the  block  to  fall  in  a  vertical  direction,  at 
the  same  time  throwing  out  the  cartridges  and  ex- 
posing the  chamber  of  the  gun  ready  for  loading. 
A  reverse  movement  of  the  lever,  bringing  it 
backward  and  upward  to  its  resting  place  against 
the  grip  of  the  stock,  raised  the  block,  and  closed 
the  chamber,  at  the  same  time  cocking  the  piece 
ready  for  firing. 

Thus  only  two  motions  of  the  lever,  one  forward 
and  one  back,  were  necessary  for  reloading  the 
piece. 

[84] 


BREECH-LOADING  SMALL  ARMS 

In  this  type  of  block-action  gun,  the  block 
contained  the  hammer  and  firing  pin.  There  was 
another  type,  however,  where  the  block  contained 
the  firing  pin  only,  the  hammer  and  lock  being  in 
a  separate  piece.  This  was  the  Eemington  type 
of  gnn  which  was  popular  for  many  years  in 
America  and  several  European  countries.  To 
load  this  gun  it  was  necessary  to  raise  the  hammer 
and  open  the  breech  block  by  two  separate  move- 
ments. Closing  the  breech  was  done  by  a  single 
movement,  the  piece  being  ready  for  firing  as  soon 
as  the  breech  was  closed.  It  will  be  seen  from  this 
that  loading  the  Eemington  required  three  move- 
ments, as  against  the  Martini-Henry's  two,  not 
including  the  insertion  of  the  cartridge.  But  this 
apparent  advantage  of  the  English  gun  was  par- 
tially, if  not  entirely,  offset  by  the  fact  that  the 
open  chamber  of  the  Eemington  gun  was  much 
more  accessible,  and  in  practice  the  number  of 
shots  that  could  be  fired  in  a  minute  with  the  two 
types  of  gun  was  practically  the  same. 

The  United  States  adopted  a  block-action  gun, 
the  Springfield  rifle,  having  the  hinge  of  the  block 
in  front. 

In  this  respect  the  American  weapon  was 
unique,  no  nation  of  any  importance  having  a  gun 
that  resembled  the  Springfield  either  in  appear- 
ance or  action.  From  an  artistic  point  of  view 
it  was  perhaps  the  most  ill-favored  gun  adopted 
by  any  nation,  the  huge  hammer  and  long  breech 
block  giving  it  an  awkward  appearance.  On  the 
other  hand,  this  rifle  was  perhaps  used  more  con- 

[85] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

tinuously  in  actual  warfare  under  the  most  trying 
conditions  than  any  other  military  breech-loader. 
For  the  Indian  wars  were  practically  continuous 
from  one  year's  end  to  another  on  some  point  of 
the  frontier,  affording  an  opportunity  for  testing 
all  manner  of  rifles,  and  it  is  perhaps  sufficient 
proof  of  the  excellent  quality  of  the  Springfield 
that  it  stood  all  these  tests  and  remained  in  use 
as  a  weapon  of  the  regular  soldier  until  the  mod- 
ern small-caliber  magazine  gun  supplanted  all 
single-shot  breech-loaders. 

Three  motions  were  required  to  load  the 
Springfield  just  as  in  the  case  of  the  Eemington. 
The  first  motion  raised  the  hammer;  the  second 
opened  the  breech  block  and  extracted  the  shell; 
while  the  third  closed  the  chamber,  making  the 
piece  ready  for  firing.  The  time  required  for 
loading  and  firing  was  practically  the  same  as 
with  that  of  the  two-movement  guns.  In  fact,  the 
actual  speed  with  which  the  various  types  of 
breech-loading  army  rifles  could  be  loaded  and 
fired  was  practically  the  same. 

But  while  these  various  types  of  block-action 
guns  remained  popular  in  several  countries  for 
many  years,  "  bolt-action  "  guns,  typified  by  the 
needle-gun,  were  equally  popular  in  other  coun- 
tries, notably  Germany  and  France.  In  such  guns 
the  "  bolt  "  consists  of  a  metal  box  continuous 
with  the  lower  end  of  the  barrel  of  the  gun,  to 
which  is  attached  a  knob  at  the  right-hand  side. 
To  open  the  breech  this  knob  is  given  a  quarter 
turn  upward  and  drawn  backward,  this  move- 

[86] 


BREECH-LOADING  SMALL  ARMS 

ment  extracting  the  exploded  cartridge  and  cock- 
ing the  piece.  The  reverse  motion  closes  the 
chamber,  and  makes  the  gun  ready  for  firing. 

The  knob  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  lock 
mechanism  proper,  being  simply  a  handle  for 
opening  and  closing  the  breech. 

There  are  various  modifications  in  the  internal 
mechanism  of  this  bolt  system,  no  two  weapons 
of  different  types  being  exactly  alike  in  this  par- 
ticular, but  these  differences  are  in  details  which 
do  not  affect  the  general  principle. 

The  chief  recommendation  for  this  style  of 
breech  action — the  all-important  one  from  the  sol- 
dier's point  of  view — is  its  stability  and  sim- 
plicity. It  has  the  disadvantage,  particularly 
when  applied  to  magazine  guns,  that  for  reloading 
the  soldier  must  take  his  hand  away  from  the  grip 
of  the  stock,  manipulate  the  knob  of  the  bolt  in  a 
somewhat  awkward  position,  and  again  clasp  the 
stock  before  he  can  fire.  These  motions  are  rela- 
tively complicated  as  compared  with  those  neces- 
sary in  guns  working  on  the  lever  principle,  or 
the  "  forearm  movement,"  where  the  hand  does 
not  leave  the  grip  of  the  stock  at  all  during  the  re- 
loading. 

For  extremely  rapid  firing,  therefore,  the  bolt 
action  is  inferior  to  some  others ;  but  it  is  suffi- 
ciently fast  nevertheless  to  meet  all  the  require- 
ments of  any  occasion  likely  to  arise  on  the  battle- 
field. 


[87] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

INTRODUCTION    OF    THE    REPEATING    GUN    AND    PISTOL 

The  single-shot  breech-loader  had  hardly  taken 
its  place  as  a  universally  recognized  military  rifle, 
before  it  was  replaced  by  the  repeating  rifle,  or 
magazine  gun. 

As  is  generally  understood,  a  "  repeating  "  or 
magazine  gun  is  one  in  which  several  charges 
are  held  in  reserve,  which  may  be  fired  in  rapid 
succession  without  stopping  to  recharge  the 
weapon.  Such  weapons  had  been  in  use  many 
years  before  being  finally  adopted  as  military 
weapons,  and  magazine  guns  of  a  crude  type  had 
been  known  even  as  early  as  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury. In  the  Tower  of  London,  and  in  several 
other  armories  of  ancient  weapons,  there  are  still 
examples  of  these  early  magazine  guns.  The  one 
in  the  Tower  is  constructed  on  the  general  prin- 
ciple of  the  modern  revolver,  a  number  of  cham- 
bers for  holding  the  charges  being  contained  in 
the  rotary  cylinder  which  discharges  through  a 
single  barrel. 

But  such  weapons,  although  so  closely  resem- 
bling the  present-day  revolver,  were  of  little  prac- 
tical value;  and  had  been  forgotten,  until  made 
practical  in  1835  by  the  invention  of  what  is  now 
known  as  the  revolver,  by  the  American,  Colonel 
Samuel  Colt. 

From  this  date,  therefore,  begins  the  history  of 
the  practical  magazine  gun,  or  perhaps  more  cor- 
rectly the  magazine  pistol.  The  excellence  of  the 
system  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  the  various  types 

[88] 


BREECH-LOADING  SMALL  ARMS 

of  revolvers  still  in  use  in  all  armies  throughout 
the  world  resemble  very  closely  Colt's  revolver 
of  1835,  not  only  in  appearance  but  in  mechanism. 

As  early  as  1830  Colt  had  invented  a  repeating 
rifle  so  arranged  that  a  number  of  barrels,  fas- 
tened together  side  by  side  and  rotating  about  a 
spindle,  could  be  fired  in  rotation  by  a  single  lock. 
This  weapon  had  little  practical  value,  however, 
as  it  was  necessarily  extremely  heavy  and  awk- 
ward to  handle.  But  in  1835  he  hit  upon  the  idea 
of  making  a  rotating  cylinder  bored  out  into  a 
number  of  chambers  so  arranged  that  they  could 
be  brought  successively  into  line  with  the  barrel 
of  the  gun.  This  was  an  old  idea  in  itself,  as  we 
have  seen,  but  Colt's  entirely  novel  invention  was 
his  ingenious  and  simple  device  for  causing  the 
cylinder  to  rotate,  and  be  temporarily  held  in  posi- 
tion for  firing,  by  the  single  movement  of  raising 
the  hammer.  Some  time  was  required  for  the 
loading  of  this  first  revolver,  but  when  once 
loaded  it  afforded  a  means  of  carrying  from  five 
to  seven  reserved  charges,  always  ready  to  be 
discharged  in  rapid  succession. 

One  such  weapon,  containing  six  chambers,  was 
infinitely  superior  to  six  ordinary  pistols.  It 
occupied  no  more  space  than  a  single-shot  pistol, 
and  it  could  be  discharged  six  times  without  re- 
moving the  hand  from  the  handle;  whereas  each 
pistol  must  be  drawn  and  cocked  separately.  Be- 
sides this,  the  six  chambers  could  be  charged  in 
much  less  time  than  that  required  to  charge  six 
separate  pistols. 

[89] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

A  soldier  armed  with  a  brace  of  such  revolvers 
could  discharge  as  many  shots  at  close1  quarters 
as  a  squad  armed  with  muskets;  and  the  weight 
of  the  two  revolvers  was  much  less  than  a  single 
musket. 

For  Indian-fighters  on  the  frontiers,  or  for  any 
purpose  where  rapidity  of  fire  was  required,  this 
weapon  was  the  most  revolutionary  innovation 
since  the  invention  of  gunpowder.  Nevertheless, 
its  merits  were  so  slow  in  impressing  themselves 
upon  military  men  that  the  little  company  which 
Colt  had  formed  for  manufacturing  his  pistols 
failed  because  there  was  no  demand  for  this 
weapon,  after  turning  out  a  comparatively  small 
number.  And  it  was  not  until  the  outbreak  of  the 
Mexican  War  in  1847  that  the  revolver  was  fully 
appreciated,  and  the  prosperity  of  Colt's  reor- 
ganized company  assured. 

It  is  true  that  the  merits  of  the  revolver  were 
recognized  by  the  American  frontiersmen  from 
the  first,  but  news  traveled  slowly  from  the  out- 
lying districts  in  those  days,  and  although  a  cer- 
tain number  of  soldiers  had  been  armed  with 
the  new  weapons  experimentally  even  before  the 
opening  of  hostilities  with  Mexico,  it  was  not  until 
war  was  declared  that  they  came  to  be  generally 
in  demand.  Then,  suddenly,  Colt's  little  company 
found  itself  overwhelmed  with  a  flood  of  orders 
from  the  government,  officers,  and  private  citi- 
zens. In  some  instances  fabulous  prices  were 
paid  for  the  second-hand  weapons  on  the  market. 

An  American  officer  paid  three  hundred  dollars 

[90] 


BREECH-LOADING  SMALL  ARMS 

for  one  of  these,  and  congratulated  himself  upon 
being  able  to  secure  it  at  any  price. 

By  the  close  of  the  Mexican  War,  Colt  had 
greatly  improved  his  revolver  by  adding  a  ramrod 
that  worked  on  a  hinge  attached  to  the  barrel  and 
was  held  in  place  beneath  it  when  not  in  use. 
With  this  arrangement  the  danger  of  losing  the 
ramrod  was  avoided,  and  an  additional  advantage 
was  gained  in  that  the  new  ramrod  acted  as  a 
lever  by  which  the  bullets  could  be  quickly 
rammed  home  by  a  single  movement.  With  this 
arrangement  the  six  chambers  of  the  revolver 
could  be  loaded  almost  as  rapidly  as  a  single 
chamber  of  the  long-barreled  musket.  The  soldier 
carrying  two  of  these  weapons  could,  by  loading 
them  alternately,  have  at  his  command  at  all  times 
at  least  six  charges  which  could  be  discharged  in 
about  as  many  seconds  if  the  occasion  demanded 
it. 

It  is  little  wonder,  therefore,  that  troops  en- 
gaged in  the  Indian  warfare  clamored  eagerly  for 
"  revolving  pistols, "  as  they  were  usually  called 
at  that  time. 

Following  the  war  with  Mexico  a  committee 
was  appointed  by  the  government  to  report  upon 
Colt's  weapon,  and  after  making  a  series  of  inves- 
tigations, which  included  asking  the  opinions  of 
the  leading  military  men,  hunters,  and  Indian- 
fighters  of  the  time,  this  committee  reported  fa- 
vorably on  the  revolver  on  January  30th,  1851. 
To  this  report  was  appended  a  long  list  of  letters 
written  to  the  committee  in  reply  to  their  requests 


MODERN  WARFARE 

for  opinions  about  the  Colt  revolver.     Some  of 
these  are  worth  quoting. 

Brigadier  General  Joseph  Lane,  commanding 
volunteers  in  Mexico,  wrote:  "  I  think  I  can  say 
as  much  for  and  about  this  formidable  weapon 
as  anyone  now  living  except  Colonel  Jack  Hays 
of  Texas.  I  have  seen  it  tested  in  several  severe 
and  bloody  conflicts,  when  a  few  men,  armed  with 
Colt  revolvers,  were  equal  to  five,  and  in  several 
instances  ten,  times  their  numbers.  No  weapon 
is  equal  to  it.  In  close  quarters  one  man  is  al- 
ways equal  to  three  or  more.  I  know  the  use  of 
it  well,  and  would  recommend  that  all  mounted 
forces  be  armed  with  them." 

Major  General  Gideon  J.  Pillow  wrote:  "  In 
reply,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say,  I  regard  Colt's  re- 
peating pistol  as  the  most  formidable  firearm 
with  which  I  have  any  acquaintance,  for  all 
mounted  troops. 

"  Indeed,  I  do  not  understand  how  its  value 
can  be  doubted  by  any  familiar  with  its  use." 

But  the  same  glowing  praises  could  not  be 
given  the  Colt  revolving  rifle,  although  almost 
identical  with  the  revolver  except  in  length  of 
stock  and  barrel.  There  was  necessarily  a  loss  of 
power  in  these  weapons,  due  to  the  unavoidable 
space  between  the  cylinder  and  the  barrel,  with  a 
resulting  escape  of  gas.  It  was,  therefore,  de- 
fective for  long-range  shooting — a  most  vital  de- 
fect in  a  rifle.  There  was  also  an  element  of 
danger  in  using  it,  owing  to  the  fact  that  more 
than  one  chamber  sometimes  exploded  accident- 

[92] 


BREECH-LOADING  SMALL  ARMS 

ally  in  firing.  This  did  not  happen  frequently  if 
the  caps  were  closely  fitted  on  the  nipples,  and 
even  when  it  did  occur  with  the  revolver  there 
was  no  danger  to  the  person  firing,  as  his  hand, 
clasping  the  butt,  was  entirely  out  of  range  of  the 
charge. 

But  in  the  case  of  the  rifle  or  carbine,  where 
the  weapon  was  supported  by  the  left  hand  held 
in  front  of  the  cylinder,  there  was  constant  danger 
that  the  accidental  discharge  of  an  extra  cylinder, 
or  possibly  two,  would  seriously  wound  the  wrist 
and  hand.  For  these  reasons  the  Colt  revolving 
rifle  never  came  into  popular  favor. 

THE   "  DOUBLE- ACTION  "  REVOLVER 

As  we  have  seen,  firing  the  chambers  of  the 
Colt  revolver  required  only  two  movements,  that 
of  cocking  the  piece  and  pulling  the  trigger. 

But  this  method  of  firing  was  shortly  improved 
upon,  so  that  a  single  movement  of  the  trigger — 
a  straight  pull  backward — raised  the  hammer,  re- 
volved the  cylinder,  and  discharged  the  weapon. 
By  this  arrangement,  which  is  known  as  "  double- 
action,"  or  "  self -cocking,"  great  rapidity  in  fir- 
ing was  possible.  It  had  the  disadvantage  that 
the  relatively  strong  pull  necessary  to  work  the 
trigger  made  it  difficult  to  take  accurate  aim,  but 
as  the  desideratum  in  such  weapons  as  the  re- 
volver is  rapidity,  rather  than  absolute  accuracy, 
the  new  system  of  self -cocking  weapons  soon  came 
into  general  favor,  and  with  one  simple  but  rather 

[93] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

important  modification  is  still  the  popular  one  the 
world  over. 

This  modification  consists  in  combining  the 
single-action  and  double-action  in  the  same 
weapon.  By  modifying  slightly  the  shape  of  the 
hammer  and  the  trigger  a  revolver  could  be  made 
which  might  be  used  as  an  ordinary  single-action 
weapon  for  accurate  shooting,  if  desired,  or  as  a 
double-action  for  rapid  work;  and  this  type  of 
double-acting  revolver  is  the  one  used  by  the 
navies  and  armies  of  the  world  at  present. 

The  invention  of  the  metallic  cartridge  revolu- 
tionized the  loading  process  in  the  revolver  just 
as  in  the  case  of  the  rifle,  but  in  other  respects  it 
had  very  little  effect  in  altering  the  general  shape, 
mechanism,  and  appearance  of  the  revolver  in  use 
half  a  century  ago.  In  fact,  with  a  slight  altera- 
tion in  the  hammer  and  the  base  of  the  cylinder, 
the  ordinary  revolver  could  be  converted  into  a 
weapon  using  metallic  cartridges,  and  tens  of 
thousands  of  revolvers  were  quickly  altered  in 
this  manner. 

But  the  loading  process  in  such  revolvers,  while 
being  a  great  improvement  over  the  powder-and- 
ball  method,  was  too  slow  to  be  entirely  satisfac- 
tory, and  various  types  of  quick-loading  weapons 
were  shortly  invented.  In  some  of  these,  rapid 
loading  was  made  possible  by  hanging  the  barrel 
and  cylinder  on  a  hinge  at  the  lower  part  of  the 
frame,  so  that  by  "  breaking  "  or  pulling  the  muz- 
zle downward  the  cylinder  was  raised  and  the 
cartridge  extracted  at  a  single  movement.  The 

[94] 


BREECH-LOADING  SMALL  ARMS 

exposed  chambers  could  then  be  loaded  by  simply 
dropping  the  cartridge  into  place,  the  reverse 
movement  of  raising  the  barrel  closing  the  piece 
ready  for  firing. 

With  such  a  weapon  the  cavalryman  could  re- 
load with  his  horse  going  at  full  speed,  using  only 
one  hand  in  the  process.  The  defect  in  this  type 
of  revolver  is  that  the  frame  is  no  longer  a  solid 
piece,  and  is  sometimes  injured  by  rough  usage. 
In  actual  practice,  however,  this  revolver  has 
proved  most  satisfactory,  and  it  is  undoubtedly 
the  most  popular  form  of  pocket  revolver  at  the 
present  time. 

As  a  military  weapon,  the  solid-frame  revolver 
has  remained  the  popular  one;  but  the  recent 
types  of  revolvers  are  so  modified  that  the  cylin- 
der may  be  exposed  for  loading  quite  as  easily 
as  in  the  hinge-joisted  weapons,  without  inter- 
fering with  the  rigidity  of  the  frame.  Such  a 
weapon,  which  is  a  good  example  of  the  type,  is 
the  new  Colt  revolver  in  use  in  the  United  States 
army  and  navy. 

In  this  weapon  the  cylinder  is  so  made  that  it 
can  be  rapidly  loaded  by  simply  releasing  a  catch, 
allowing  the  cylinder  to  fall  to  one  side,  the  empty 
shells  being  extracted  all  at  one  time  by  simply 
pushing  a  rod  running  through  the  center  of  the 
cylinder. 

Reloading  the  five  chambers  is  facilitated  by 
having  the  cartridges  fixed  at  their  bases  by  a 
loader,  or  charging  chip,  which  holds  them  in  posi- 
tion so  that  a  single  movement  charges  all  five  of 

[95] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

the  chambers.  In  this  way  the  rapidity  of  charg- 
ing and  shooting  the  revolver  is  so  perfected  that 
little  is  left  to  be  desired  in  the  way  of  improve- 
ments. Furthermore,  the  mechanism  is  so  simple 
that  there  is  little  danger  of  the  weapon  getting 
out  of  order,  even  with  rough  usage. 

But  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  ordinary 
army  or  navy  revolver  may  be  fired  with  some- 
thing like  reasonable  accuracy  at  the  rate  of  six 
shots  in  less  than  the  same  number  of  seconds, 
inventors  have  recently  perfected  semi-automatic 
pistols  with  which  this  rate  of  firing  may  be 
greatly  increased.  Several  such  weapons,  of  va- 
rious types,  are  now  on  the  market  and  are  found 
to  work  satisfactorily  in  actual  practice.  The 
principle  upen  which  their  semi-automatic  action 
depends  is  the  same  as  that  of  the  automatic  guns 
to  be  described  presently.  The  defect  in  such 
pistols  is  their  complicated  structure.  And  in 
view  of  the  fact  that  the  modern  double-action  re- 
volver is  so  simple,  and  rapid  in  its  fire,  it  is 
probable  that  it  will  not  be  superseded  for  some 
time  by  the  automatic  type  of  pistol  for  military 
purposes. 

THE    DEVELOPMENT    OF    THE    MAGAZINE    GUN 

Although  every  revolver,  with  its  cylinder  of  re- 
serve cartridges,  is  really  a  "  magazine  gun  "  in 
the  strictest  sense,  the  term  as  now  used  does  not 
include  weapons  of  this  type.  The  magazines  of 
such  guns  may  be  cylindrical  in  form,  to  be  sure, 

[96] 


BREECH-LOADING  SMALL  ARMS 

but  the  actual  discharge  of  the  cartridge  in  mod- 
ern magazine  guns,  properly  so  called,  takes  place 
in  the  chamber  of  the  barrel,  not  in  the  magazine 
as  in  the  case  of  the  revolver. 

A  practical  magazine  gun  was  not  possible  until 
the  introduction  of  metallic  cartridges,  which 
could  be  manufactured  in  almost  any  desired 
shape.  When  these  were  invented,  however,  in- 
ventors were  soon  able  to  produce  weapons  having 
magazines  of  reserve  cartridges  which  could  be 
fired  in  rapid  succession,  and  a  number  of  such 
guns,  all  of  them  more  or  less  practical,  were  in- 
vented in  America  and  in  all  European  countries 
between  1850  and  1875. 

Of  necessity  the  location  of  the  magazine  and 
the  mechanism  for  automatically  replacing  the 
cartridges  after  discharge  in  such  guns  is  con- 
fined to  a  few  general  types,  any  radical  depar- 
ture from  the  established  shape  of  the  gun  being 
out  of  the  question. 

Magazines  are,  therefore,  either  in  the  form  of 
a  revolving  cylinder,  like  a  revolver ;  a  magazine  in 
the  stock ;  a  magazine  placed  near  the  lock  at  the 
breech ;  or  a  magazine  in  the  form  of  a  tube  run- 
ning along  the  barrel. 

There  are  advantages  and  disadvantages  in 
each  of  these  types;  and  military  men  were  still 
divided  in  opinions  as  to  the  advantage  of  any  of 
these  guns  over  a  single-shot  breech-loader,  when 
in  1877  some  bodies  of  Turkish  troops,  armed 
with  Winchester  repeating  rifles,  astonished  the 
military  men  of  Europe  by  the  superiority  of 

[97] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

these  weapons.  Had  these  military  men  but 
known  it,  Western  American  cowboys  and  ranch- 
men could  have  told  them  of  the  superiority  of 
this  wonderful  weapon,  in  winning  and  holding  a 
savage  frontier.  But  it  required  an  actual  demon- 
stration in  "  civilized  "  warfare  to  fix  the  atten- 
tion of  military  men. 


"  THE   WINCHESTER 


The  Winchester  rifle,  therefore,  holds  the  same 
position  in  the  history  of  the  development  of  the 
magazine  guns  that  the  Colt  revolving  pistol  does 
in  the  history  of  revolvers.  Yet,  strange  as  it 
may  seem,  since  its  first  practical  demonstration, 
the  Winchester  has  never  been  a  popular  military 
rifle  with  any  important  nation,  including  the 
United  States.  On  the  <jther  hand,  it  has  re- 
mained the  most  popular  weapon  for  hunting,  and 
for  fighting  savages,  particular  the  American  In- 
dians, for  a  quarter  of  a  century. 

The  very  name  "  Winchester  "  has  become  a 
generic  one,  and  one  speaks  of  "  a  posse  of  men 
armed  with  Winchesters  ' '  when  meaning  that  the 
guns  are  repeaters  (perhaps  of  the  Marlin,  Colt, 
or  Savage  type),  and  not  necessarily  Winchester 
rifles  at  all. 

In  the  history  of  civilized  warfare,  therefore, 
the  number  of  Winchester  rifles  actually  used  is 
insignificant;  but  on  the  other  hand,  the  rapid 
conquest  of  the  Western  United  States, — the 
wresting  of  the  soil  from  savage  beasts  and 

[98] 


BREECH-LOADING  SMALL  ARMS 

equally  savage  men — is  due  largely  to  this  rifle, 
ably  assisted  by  the  Colt  revolver.  The  regular 
soldier,  armed  with  his  heavy  single-shot  Spring- 
field rifle,  was  always  an  object  of  contempt  to 
the  frontiersmen  armed  with  Winchesters;  and 
while  the  soldier  with  his  Springfield  did  the  work 
assigned  him,  and  did  it  well  in  the  end,  there  can 
be  little  doubt  that  he  was  outclassed  in  equipment 
by  his  ranchmen  neighbors,  and  by  his  savage 
enemies. 

This  being  the  case,  one  is  naturally  led  to  ask 
why  it  was  that  the  government  did  not  replace 
the  Springfield  rifles,  on  the  frontier  at  least,  by 
Winchesters.  Certain  soldiers  did  carry  them  at 
times,  to  be  sure,  but  the  guns  regularly  issued  to 
the  troops  were  Springfields.  The  explanation 
seems  to  lie  in  the  fact  that  military  authori- 
ties are  guided  by  f^ed  rules,  which  are  fre- 
quently much  better  in  theory  than  in  practice; 
and  judged  by  these  rules,  the  Winchester  rifle 
never  seemed  able  to  compete  successfully  with 
the  tests  required  by  the  government  in  competi- 
tion with  the  Springfield. 

Fastened  into  a  vise  and  fired  at  objects  to  de- 
termine penetration  and  accuracy,  or  shaken  up 
in  dust  boxes,  and  held  under  water  until  it  be- 
came rusty,  as  is  done  in  some  government  tests 
for  guns,  the  Winchester  was  found  a  more  deli- 
cate weapon  than  the  Springfield — and  for  that 
matter,  several  others. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  was  carried  about  on  the 
dusty  alkali  plains,  jostled  about  on  the  backs  of 

[99] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

bronchos,  exposed  to  all  kinds  of  weather  for 
years,  with  only  the  roughest  care  by  ranchmen, 
cowboys,  and  Indians,  and  it  still  maintained  its 
popularity  in  this  school  of  rough  but  practical 
soldiery.  In  short,  it  seemed  to  be  a  good  gun 
for  anybody  but  soldiers,  particularly  those  not 
stationed  on  the  frontier. 

It  seems  a  peculiarly  American  trait  to  be  the 
first  to  invent  but  the  last  to  use  improvements  in 
military  weapons. 

Thus  all  the  world  was  using  repeating  military 
rifles  while  American  soldiers,  still  armed  with 
archaic  Springfield s,  were  hunting  savage  Indians 
armed  with  Winchesters. 

The  American  soldiers  in  the  Spanish  and 
Philippine  Wars  fought  with  obsolete  single-shot 
weapons  firing  an  obsolete  type  of  bullet  propelled 
by  an  obsolete  form  of  powder,  when  even  the 
ragged  Cubans  and  Filipinos — strange  as  it  may 
seem — had  modern  small-caliber  magazine  guns 
using  smokeless  powder. 

Someone  has  said  that  the  "  Springfield  rifle 
was  the  crime  of  the  Spanish  War  ' ' ;  and  it  is 
difficult  to  gainsay  the  truth  of  this  statement. 
But  in  extenuation  it  may  be  pointed  out  that  for 
a  quarter  of  a  century  America  has  had  no  com- 
petitors, or  probable  competitors,  in  the  war  game 
worthy  of  her  steel.  Had  she  been  seriously 
menaced  by  a  first-rate  European  power,  instead 
of  savage  Indians  during  that  period,  it  is  prob- 
able that  the  Springfield  would  have  been  dis- 
carded many  years  before  it  was. 

[100] 


BREECH-LOADING  SMAMi.  A 

The  Winchester  rifle  used  by  the  Turks  in  1877- 
1878  was  a  lever-action  gun,  having  a  magazine  for 
holding  twelve  or  fifteen  reserve  cartridges  run- 
ning along  the  under  side  of  the  barrel — a  "  tube 
magazine,"  as  it  is  called.  This  magazine  was 
filled  through  an  opening  on  the  right  side  just  in 
front  of  the  lock,  the  cartridges  being  inserted  one 
at  a  time.  All  that  was  necessary  to  reload  the 
chamber  of  the  piece  from  the  magazine  after  fir- 
ing was  a  forward  and  back  movement  of  a  lever 
held  against  the  stock  in  the  right  hand,  the  back- 
ward movement  also  cocking  the  piece  ready  for 
firing.  In  this  way  the  ordinary  soldier  could 
fire  his  fifteen  shots  in  about  twenty  seconds  with 
sufficiently  accurate  aim  to  be  effective  at  close 
quarters. 

THE   PASSING   OF   THE  "  FOETY-FIVE  " 

But  before  the  magazine  type  of  gun  had  been 
adopted  into  general  use  as  a  military  weapon  by 
all  nations,  two  great  innovations  in  firearms  had 
forced  the  recognition  of  their  importance.  These 
were  smokeless  powder  and  the  small-caliber  bul- 
let, by  the  use  of  which  the  range  of  the  rifle 
was  enormously  increased.  About  1883  a  Major 
Eubin  of  Switzerland  discovered  that  by  making 
a  certain  type  of  bullet,  about  .30  of  an  inch  in 
diameter  instead  of  about  .45,  it  was  possible  to 
secure  greater  range,  accuracy,  and  penetration, 
with  less  powder,  lighter  cartridges,  and  conse- 
quently less  recoil. 

[101] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

Here  were  five  important  advantages,  without 
a  single  disadvantage  that  could  not  be  overcome 
with  comparatively  little  difficulty. 

The  one  important  disadvantage  of  this  new 
type  of  bullet  lay  in  the  fact  that  in  order  to  se- 
cure the  necessary  weight  the  bullet  had  to  be 
greatly  elongated  in  proportion  to  its  diameter, 
and  this  greater  length  necessitated  a  sharper 
pitch  of  the  rifling  in  order  to  make  it  revolve  with 
sufficient  rapidity  to  keep  it  always  point  fore- 
most in  its  flight.  That  is  to  say,  the  spiral  rifling 
of  the  barrel  had  to  be  given  a  sharper  turn,  so 
that  the  new  bullet  made  more  turns  in  the  same 
length  of  barrel  than  the  old — something  like 
twice  as  many.  In  this  rapid  turning,  however, 
the  soft  lead  bullet  was  found  to  "  strip,7'  a  por- 
tion of  the  surface  being  torn  off  by  the  edges  of 
the  rifling  of  the  barrel. 

To  overcome  this  it  was  necessary  to  make  the 
bullet  of  some  substance  harder  than  lead,  or  at 
least  cover  it  with  a  "  jacket  "  of  some  hard  sub- 
stance like  nickel  or  cupro-nickel. 

This  last  substance,  cupro-nickel,  is  at  present 
the  most  popular  one,  being  hard  enough  to  take 
the  rifling  without  stripping,  at  the  same  time 
causing  the  minimum  of  wear  on  the  gun  barrel. 
The  wear  upon  the  barrel  is  of  course  very  much 
greater  with  such  a  bullet  than  when  a  soft  metal 
bullet  is  used,  but  the  disadvantage  of  this  is 
entirely  outweighed  by  the  other  advantages. 
For  practical  purposes,  however,  this  wear  is  very 
slight,  at  least  eight  thousand  discharges  being 

[102] 


BREECH-LOADING  SMALL  ARMS 

necessary  before  the  accuracy  of  the  gun  is  ma- 
terially affected. 

By  the  time  the  new  bullet  had  been  perfected, 
certain  definite  types  of  guns  had  been  found  best 
adapted  for  military  uses.  The  "  bolt  system  " 
of  breech  mechanism  had  been  adopted  univer- 
sally to  the  exclusion  of  practically  every  other; 
and  certain  types  of  magazines  had  replaced  all 
others.  Without  going  into  too  minute  details, 
these  magazine  systems  fall  into  two  classes: 
vertical,  rotary,  or  horizontal  magazines  holding 
the  cartridges  side  by  side  near  the  base  of  the 
barrel ;  or  tubes  running  along  beneath  the  barrel 
to  a  certain  distance  (like  the  sporting  rifles  of 
the  Winchester,  Marlin,  or  new  Colt  type)  with 
the  cartridges  resting  point  to  base.  Each  system 
has  its  advantages  and  disadvantages,  as  shown 
by  the  fact  that  both  of  these  systems  are  still  in 
use  in  the  armies  of  the  great  powers. 

But  regardless  of  the  type  of  magazine,  all 
modern  magazine  rifles  may  be  divided  into  two 
classes:  those  made  with  "  cut-offs  "  and  those 
without  them.  The  "  cut-off  "  is  an  arrangement 
whereby  the  cartridges  in  the  magazine  may  be 
held  in  reserve,  the  weapon  being  used  as  a  single 
breech-loader  unless  the  occasion  for  very  rapid 
firing  arises.  A  soldier  using  a  gun  not  having 
a  cut-off  cannot  reserve  his  ammunition  in  the 
magazine  when  firing,  but  after  filling  the 
magazine  with  cartridges  must  fire  them  in  suc- 
cession until  the  last  is  discharged.  In  this  way 
he  might  find  himself,  at  the  moment  when  rapid 

[103] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

firing  was  most  necessary,  with  an  empty  maga- 
zine, or  with  only  one  or  two  cartridges. 

With  the  cut-off  system,  the  soldier  loads  and 
fires  one  cartridge  at  a  time,  holding  his  full 
magazine  ready  for  the  supreme  moment.  Many 
authorities  hold  that  in  case  of  a  surprise,  or 
sudden  rush  of  troops,  this  reserve  magazine  full 
of  cartridges  might  determine  the  issue,  and  the 
cut-off  system  is  used  by  such  countries  as  Great 
Britain,  France,  and  the  United  States.  On  the 
other  hand,  Japan,  Germany,  Russia,  Italy,  and 
Austria-Hungary  do  not  use  rifles  with  cut-offs. 

Three  different  systems  are  in  use  for  rapidly 
charging  the  magazine.  These  are  by  single  car- 
tridges one  at  a  time,  by  "  charges,"  or  by 
"  clips. "  The  single-cartridge  system  explains 
itself,  the  magazine  being  filled  with  cartridges 
dropped  or  pushed  in  place  one  by  one.  In  guns 
loaded  by  charges,  the  requisite  number  of  car- 
tridges for  filling  the  magazine  are  held  in  metal 
or  pasteboard  boxes,  from  which  the  magazine 
can  be  filled  by  a  single  movement,  the  charger 
case  being  thrown  away  after  loading.  Guns  us- 
ing chargers  can  usually  be  loaded  with  loose  car- 
tridges if  desired. 

In  the  clip  system,  like  the  charger,  the  car- 
tridges are  fastened  on  a  case  or  clip;  but  unlike 
the  charger,  the  clip  itself  is  inserted  into  the 
magazine  and  held  there  until  the  last  cartridge 
is  fired,  and  loading  by  clips  is  used  largely  with 
weapons  not  provided  with  cut-offs. 

[104] 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  MILITARY  RIFLE 


1. 


"  Tower  "  English  flint-lock  represents  musket  used  on  both  sides 

in  American  Revolution. 
Model  of  1822,  U.  S.  Springfield — made  until   1844. 

3.  Model  of  1842,  U.  S.  Springfield — percussion  cap  weapon,  muzzle- 

loading;   used  first  in  Mexican  War. 

4.  Model   of    1861,    U.    S.    Springfield — the    familiar    muzzle-loading 

weapon  of  the  Civil  War. 

5.  Model    of    1873-1884,    U.    S.    Springfield — a    breech-loading    arm 

using  a  cartridge. 

6.  Model  of  1898,  U.  S.  Springfield  Krag-Jorgensen  of  Spanish  War 

— breech-loading  magazine  gun. 

Model  of   1903-1907,  U.   S.   Springfield— the  latest  word  in  mili- 
tary guns  and  now  in  use  by  U.  S.  Army  and  Navy. 


2. 


7. 


BREECH-LOADING  SMALL  ARMS 

THE  NEW   SPRINGFIELD  RIFLE 

According  to  the  opinion  of  American  experts 
the  best  military  rifle  is  the  new  Springfield  rifle 
adopted  for  the  United  States  army  in  1903. 

This  new  rifle  is  thought  to  combine  more  good 
qualities,  and  fewer  defects,  than  any  other  rifle 
now  in  use  by  any  country.  The  Krag-Jorgensen 
rifle,  the  small-caliber  magazine  gun  in  use  by  the 
American  troops  for  several  years,  is  an  excellent 
weapon  in  many  ways,  but  the  new  Springfield  is 
supposed  to  outclass  it  in  every  particular.  This 
new  rifle  represents  the  acme  of  present-day  gun- 
making.  A  rifle  firing  bullets  with  accuracy  fur- 
ther than  the  human  eye  can  detect  even  a  large 
target  like  a  soldier  on  horseback,  at  a  rate  of 
twenty  shots  in  less  than  sixteen  seconds,  as  is 
possible  with  the  new  Springfield  rifle,  seems  to 
meet  almost  any  condition  that  is  likely  to  arise 
even  in  modern  warfare. 

This  new  rifle  has  a  range  of  five  miles,  al- 
though of  course  accurate  shooting  cannot  be 
hoped  for  at  such  a  distance.  Even  at  one  thou- 
sand yards  a  line  of  men  resembles  a  uniform 
band  of  color,  heads  and  legs  being  indistin- 
guishable. At  one  thousand  two  hundred  yards 
it  is  possible  to  distinguish  between  horsemen 
and  footmen ;  but  at  two  thousand  yards  a  man  on 
a  horse  appears  like  a  dot. 

The  penetration  of  the  bullet  from  the  Spring- 
field is  fifty-four  and  seven-tenths  inches  of 
pine  boards  at  a  distance  of  fifty-three  feet ;  and 

[105] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

seventy-two  inches  of  pine  boards  at  one  thou- 
sand five  hundred  yards,  the  penetration  being 
greater  when  fired  at  the  longer  distance.  Simi- 
larly, penetration  of  the  bullet  into  sand  and  loam 
at  fifty  feet  is  about  six  inches;  at  five  hundred 
yards,  thirteen  and  one-half  inches;  and  at  a 
thousand  yards  sixteen  and  one-half  inches. 

These  seemingly  paradoxical  figures  are  ex- 
plained by  the  fact  that  at  close  range  the  velocity 
of  the  bullet  is  so  great  that  the  bullet  destroys 
itself  before  displacement  of  the  particles  allows 
it  to  pass.  Bullets  fired  into  sand  at  a  distance 
of  fifty  feet  are  destroyed,  although  only  pene- 
trating about  six  inches;  but  on  the  other  hand, 
bullets  buried  sixteen  inches  deep,  fired  a  distance 
of  one  thousand  yards,  are  uninjured. 

From  these  figures  of  penetration  it  will  be  seen 
that  such  an  object  as  an  ordinary  tree,  thick 
enough  to  conceal  a  man's  body  completely,  af- 
fords no  adequate  protection  against  the  small- 
caliber  bullet.  On  the  other  hand,  the  wounds  pro- 
duced by  such  a  small  rapidly  moving  projectile 
are  much  less  cruel  in  nature  than  those  of  the 
older  bullets.  The  pain  and  shock  produced  are 
much  less,  and  the  wounds  yield  more  readily  to 
treatment,  and  heal  kindly,  recoveries  being  made 
from  a  large  percentage  of  wounds  not  affecting 
the  vital  organs. 

The  fact  that  the  bullet  passes  through  a  part, 
instead  of  lodging  in  it,  lessens  the  chance  of  fatal 
after-effects. 

The  course  of  the  bullet  in  its  flight  frtfm  the 
[106] 


BREECH-LOADING  SMALL  ARMS 

modern  rifle  is  interesting  as  compared  with  army 
weapons  of  half  a  century  ago.  The  increased 
speed  of  the  bullet  of  course  lessens  the  height  to 
which  it  must  rise  to  counteract  the  gravitation 
pull  in  going  a  certain  distance.  That  is,  the  tra- 
jectory is  flattened  in  proportion  to  the  increase 
of  velocity  of  the  bullet.  The  bullet  from  the  new 
Springfield,  when  fired  five  hundred  yards,  rises  a 
little  less  than  twenty-one  fee^  from  the  ground 
at  its  highest  point.  The  bullet  from  the  smooth- 
bore musket  used  in  1850  rose  to  a  height  of  one 
hundred  and  twenty-nine  feet  when  shooting  at 
three  hundred  yards.  An  approximate  idea  of 
the  relative  speed  of  the  two  bullets  can  be  gained 
from  these  figures. 

In  general  principles  and  appearance  the  new 
Springfield  resembles  the  better  type  of  European 
military  rifles.  It  is  a  "  charger  "-loading,  "  cut- 
off "  weapon,  short,  compact,  and  comparatively 
light,  but  nevertheless  without  great  recoil  in  fir- 
ing. Its  muzzle  velocity  per  second  is  two  thou- 
sand three  hundred  feet,  as  against  two  thousand 
two  hundred  feet  of  the  new  English  rifle;  two 
thousand  two  hundred  of  the  Spanish  Mauser; 
two  thousand  one  hundred  and  forty-five  of  the 
German  Mauser;  and  two  thousand  seventy-three 
of  the  French  Lebel.  Its  penetration  of  fifty-four 
and  seven-tenths  inches  of  pine  boards  at  fifty- 
three^  feet  compares  favorably  with  the  English 
rifle  of  forty- two  inches  of  pine  at  twenty-five 
yards;  the  German  rifle  of  thirty-two  inches  of 
pine  at  one  hundred  and  nine  yards ;  the  Spanish 

[107] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

rifle  of  fifty-five  inches  of  pine  at  thirteen  yards; 
and  the  French  rifle  of  twenty-four  inches  of  pine 
at  two  hundred  and  eighteen  yards. 

With  such  a  weapon  as  the  new  Springfield  rifle 
firing  smokeless  powder  the  soldier  is  able  to  dis- 
charge aimed  shots  at  the  rate  of  one  every  two 
seconds  with  a  maximum  range  of  five  miles,  and 
it  would  seem  that  this  leaves  little  to  be  desired 
in  rifle  perfection.  But  even  this  highly  perfected 
rifle,  it  is  thought,  may  be  improved  upon,  more 
particularly  in  the  mechanism  of  loading. 

Various  governments  are  experimenting,  there- 
fore, with  the  still  more  rapid  firing  automatic 
rifle  made  on  the  principle  of  the  machine  gun, 
described  in  another  chapter.  Such  guns,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  are  already  in  the  market  as  sport- 
ing weapons  and  are  found  to  work  with  perfect 
satisfaction,  although  their  mechanism  is  neces- 
sarily more  complicated  than  that  of  the  magazine 
guns,  rendering  them  more  liable  to  get  out  of 
order  in  active  service.  Furthermore,  the  con- 
sumption of  the  ammunition  of  these  automatic 
guns  when  fired  as  rapidly  as  possible  is  enor- 
mous, and  as  keeping  up  the  ammunition  supply 
is  one  of  the  great  problems  of  modern  warfare,  it 
is  probable  that  the  automatic  rifle  will  not  come 
into  general  use  as  the  military  weapon  for  some 
years,  unless  some  new  method  of  supplying  or 
lightening  ammunition  is  discovered. 

The  vital  questions  of  rapidity  of  fire,  accuracy, 
long  range,  penetration,  etc.,  that  have  concerned 
military  men  for  so  many  centuries  seem  now  to 

[108] 


BREECH-LOADING  SMALL  ARMS 

have  been  solved  in  such  a  practical  manner  that 
the  attention  of  military  experts  will  probably 
henceforth  be  directed  into  other  channels  of  in- 
vestigation. Just  what  these  channels  may  be 
remains  to  be  seen. 


[109] 


VI 

TORPEDOES,  MINES,  AND  TORPEDO 
BOATS 

IT  was  the  inventor  of  the  steamboat,  Robert 
Fulton,  who  first  demonstrated  the  possibili- 
ties of  using  submarine  torpedoes,  although 
another    American,    Bushnell,    had    made    some 
earlier  attempts. 

Fulton's  first  demonstration  was  made  about 
1805,  two  years  before  the  completion  of  his  prac- 
tical steamboat.  The  type  of  torpedo  he  used,  and 
which  remained  in  use  with  certain  modifications 
for  three-quarters  of  a  century,  was  not  the  self- 
propelled  projectile  which  has  since  been  made 
famous  by  the  inventions  of  Howell  and  White- 
head,  but  was  what  is  known  as  the  "  spar-and- 
outrigger "  type,  the  torpedo  containing  the 
charge  of  explosive  being  attached  to  the  end  of 
a  long  spar. 

To  use  such  a  torpedo  it  was  necessary  for  the 
boat  carrying  it  to  approach  within  a  spar's 
length  of  the  vessel  attacked,  place  the  torpedo 
against  the  hull  below  the  water-line  and  dis- 
charge it  by  some  mechanical  device.  The  diffi- 
culty of  accomplishing  this  even  at  night  and  the 
danger  to  the  attacking  boat  was  so  great,  not 

[110] 


TORPEDOES  AND  MINES 

only  from  the  missiles  of  the  enemy  but  from  the 
force  of  the  explosion  of  its  own  torpedo,  that 
only  a  few  cases  are  on  record  of  successful  at- 
tacks of  this  nature.  Perhaps  the  most  famous  of 
these  was  the  sinking  of  the  Confederate  iron-clad 
Albemarle  late  in  October  of  1864  by  Lieutenant 
Gushing. 

The  boat  in  which  Lieutenant  Gushing  made  his 
attack  was  a  small  steam  launch.  The  night  se- 
lected for  the  undertaking  was  a  particularly  dark 
one.  Anticipating  such  an  attack,  the  Confeder- 
ate officer  in  command  of  the  Albemarle  had  pro- 
tected his  vessel  by  booms  of  logs  surrounding 
her,  and  fastened  at  a  sufficient  distance  so  that 
the  hull  could  not  be  reached  by  a  spar  of  ordinary 
length.  As  Gushing 's  launch  approached  this  ob- 
struction it  was  detected  by  the  Confederates,  who 
opened  fire  at  once ;  but  in  the  face  of  this  Gush- 
ing was  able  to  force  his  little  boat  over  the  logs, 
place  his  torpedo  in  position,  and  explode  it. 

The  force  of  the  explosion  destroyed  both  the 
iron-clad  and  the  launch,  but  Gushing  escaped  by 
diving  and  swimming. 

This  attack  demonstrated  conclusively  the  pos- 
sibilities of  torpedo-boat  attacks  under  cover 
of  darkness.  And  so  long  as  smoke-producing 
powder  remained  in  use  there  was  always  the  pos- 
sibility that  a  rapidly  moving  boat  might  creep 
sufficiently  close  to  a  battle  ship  under  cover  of 
smoke,  even  in  daylight,  to  deliver  a  fatal  blow 
with  a  spar-and-outrigger  torpedo.  Indeed,  even 
as  late  as  1884,  during  the  war  between  France 

[111] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

and  China,  the  French  succeeded  in  sinking  the 
Fang  Woo  in  this  manner. 

But  the  introduction  of  rapid-fire  guns,  smoke- 
less powder,  and  searchlights  soon  after,  made  the 
effective  use  of  this  type  of  torpedo  almost  out  of 
the  question. 

Attention  was  directed,  therefore,  to  producing 
some  sort  of  self-propelled,  or  ' '  locomotive  ' '  tor- 
pedo, which  could  act  at  a  distance  from  the  point 
of  discharge. 

The  result  of  these  experiments  was  a  torpedo 
which  could  be  discharged  from  a  shore  station, 
or  from  a  ship,  guided  by  means  of  wires  which 
were  connected  with  controlling  batteries.  This 
torpedo,  although  fairly  successful,  had  many  de- 
fects and  was  open  to  many  objections.  It  was 
extremely  slow,  the  radius  of  its  action  very 
limited,  and  the  controlling  wires  were  likely  to 
become  entangled  with  friendly  ships,  anchor 
chains,  or  propellers. 

An  improvement  on  this  type  of  torpedo  was 
the  self-propelled  or  "  uncontrolled >:  torpedo, 
which  was  first  produced  in  practical  form  by  the 
American,  Howell. 

This  torpedo  was  made  in  the  form  of  a  long 
tube  fitted  with  a  propeller  and  steering  gear, 
carrying  in  its  head,  or  anterior  portion,  a  charge 
of  explosive  which  detonated  by  contact.  The 
motive  power  was  afforded  by  clockwork  ma- 
chinery which,  when  wound  up  by  a  special  ma- 
chine made  for  the  purpose,  continued  to  rotate 
the  propeller  for  several  minutes,  carrying  the 

[112] 


TORPEDOES  AND  MINES 

torpedo  a  considerable  distance  before  running 
down.  By  an  ingenious  arrangement  the  torpedo 
was  kept  in  a  straight  course  at  a  certain  distance 
below  the  surface  of  the  water  so  long  as  the  pro- 
peller continued  in  motion. 

But  following  closely  upon  the  invention  of 
the  Howell  torpedo  was  the  now  famous  White- 
head  torpedo,  which  resembled  the  Howell  in 
many  ways,  but  in  which  compressed  air  was  used 
for  actuating  the  propellers,  instead  of  clockwork. 
Other  improvements  were  made  from  year  to 
year,  until  finally  this  torpedo  has  reached  a 
stage  of  mechanical  perfection  by  which  it  is 
self-propelled  and  self-guided  in  a  manner  little 
short  of  the  marvelous. 

A  great  difficulty  that  had  to  be  overcome  in 
the  earlier  forms  of  torpedo  was  its  tendency  to 
deflection  from  the  desired  course  after  leaving 
the  discharge  tube.  As  the  torpedo  was  usually 
fired  from  above  the  surface  of  the  water  and 
was  thus  plunged  into  the  water  at  an  angle  caused 
by  the  combined  action  of  gravity  and  the  ship's 
motion,  the  tendency  of  the  torpedo  was  to  con- 
tinue in  the  direction  of  the  angle  at  which  it  en- 
tered the  water,  which  would,  of  course,  deflect  it 
to  a  great  distance  from  the  target. 

After  many  attempts  to  correct  this,  the  steer- 
ing gear  was  arranged  so  as  to  be  acted  upon  by 
a  fly  wheel  which  utilized  the  principle  of  the 
gyroscope. 

By  this  arrangement  the  torpedo  always  rights 
itself  and  continues  in  the  direction  of  the  angle 
.[113] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

at  which  it  leaves  the  firing  tube,  regardless  of 
the  angle  at  which  it  enters  the  water. 

Thus  the  modern  torpedo  is  a  practical  engine 
of  destruction,  which  travels  at  the  rate  of  thirty 
miles  an  hour,  and  capable  of  striking  a  target 
at  a  distance  of  two  thousand  yards  or  even 
more. 

Eecently  another  improvement  has  been  added 
by  means  of  which  the  torpedo  can  be  made  to  do 
more  than  travel  in  a  straight  line.  By  the  addi- 
tion of  certain  controlling  devices  the  torpedo  can 
be  so  adjusted  that,  after  traveling  a  certain  dis- 
tance in  one  direction,  it  turns  automatically  and 
continues  its  course  in  a  straight  line  in  another 
direction.  In  short,  it  can  literally  be  "  fired 
around  a  corner." 

By  this  arrangement  it  is  not  necessary  to  have 
the  firing  tube  directed  at  the  target,  and  a  con- 
cealed tube  entirely  out  of  range  of  gunshot 
might  discharge  torpedoes  with  disastrous  effects 
without  being  exposed.  In  this  way  it  is  conceiv- 
able that  a  torpedo  boat  might  creep  up  behind  a 
headland,  or  take  its  position  in  the  shelter  of  a 
friendly  battle  ship,  and,  unobserved  and  com- 
pletely out  of  danger,  discharge  its  torpedoes, 
which,  after  running  clear  of  the  ship  or  point  of 
land,  would  turn  automatically  and  steer  directly 
towards  the  target.  It  is  conceivable  that  such  a 
maneuver  might  be  advantageous  in  actions  be- 
tween fleets  in  the  open  sea  because  of  the  danger 
to  which  battle  ships  were  exposed  if  they  at- 
tempted to  use  torpedoes  fired  from  tubes  above 

[114] 


TORPEDOES  AND  MINES 

the  water  line,  the  kind  of  tubes  with  which  many 
of  the  older  battle  ships  are  still  equipped. 

The  possibility  of  an  enemy's  shell  exploding 
the  torpedo  in  its  tube  before  it  can  be  fired  from 
the  battle  ship,  thus  causing  the  destruction  of 
the  boat,  was  demonstrated  in  the  Spanish- Amer- 
ican War;  in  fact,  this  possibility  was  about  the 
only  definite  demonstration  of  the  possibilities  in 
the  use  of  torpedoes  that  was  made  during  that 
war. 

At  the  battle  of  Santiago,  while  Admiral  Cer- 
vera's  ships  were  attempting  to  escape  through 
the  blockading  American  squadron,  a  torpedo 
about  to  be  launched  from  the  tube  of  the  Ali- 
rante  Oquendo  was  struck  by  an  American  shell. 
The  result  was  a  disastrous  explosion  which  de- 
stroyed the  vessel  completely.  This  accident 
demonstrated  conclusively  that  a  torpedo  located 
in  a  tube  above  the  water  line  on  a  battle  ship  is  a 
menace  to  the  ship  itself  during  the  engagement; 
and  such  tubes  have  been  omitted  in  most  of  the 
recent  battle  ships. 

For  several  years  after  the  introduction  of  au- 
tomobile torpedoes  it  was  customary  to  build  tor- 
pedo tubes  in  the  bows  of  the  battle  ships,  a  few 
feet  above  the  water  line,  to  be  used  during  at- 
tempts to  ram  an  enemy;  but  since  modern  naval 
engagements  have  demonstrated  the  improb- 
ability of  ramming  tactics  in  the  future,  the  bow 
tube  has  gone  out  of  use  generally.  It  was  always 
objectionable  because  it  weakened  the  structure 
of  the  ship  at  the  bow,  and  because  there  was  the 

[115] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

possibility  that  in  ramming  the  torpedo  in  the 
tube  might  explode  with  an  effect  equally  disas- 
trous to  both  ships. 

On  most  of  the  recently  built  battleships  only 
submerged  torpedo  tubes  are  used. 

When  these  submerged  tubes  were  first  placed 
at  the  sides  of  the  ship,  however,  a  difficulty 
was  encountered  in  the  danger  of  injuring  the 
torpedo  as  it  left  the  tube,  the  pressure  of 
the  water  caused  by  the  motion  of  the  ship 
breaking  or  distorting  it  before  it  cleared  the 
muzzle. 

To  overcome  this  danger  an  extra  sheathing 
arrangement  is  now  made  which  is  run  out  just 
at  the  moment  of  firing;  and  this  has  been  found 
to  work  so  satisfactorily  that  torpedoes  can  be 
discharged  with  accuracy  and  without  danger  of 
injury,  from  a  ship  moving  at  the  rate  of  fifteen 
or  even  seventeen  knots  an  hour. 

Since  the  invention  of  the  automobile  torpedo 
there  has  been  a  sufficient  number  of  opportuni- 
ties for  testing  them  in  actual  warfare  to  have 
determined  their  value  as  weapons. 

The  first  instance  of  their  use  recorded  was  dur- 
ing the  Chilian  Eevolutionary  War  in  1891,  when 
the  war  vessel  Blanco  Escalada  was  destroyed  by 
one.  Three  years  later  the  Brazilian  iron-clad 
'Aquidaban  was  sunk  by  a  torpedo  fired  from  a 
torpedo  boat  of  about  five  hundred  tons'  displace- 
ment. In  the  war  between  China  and  Japan  sev- 
eral Chinese  vessels  were  struck  and  destroyed 
by  Japanese  torpedoes,  but  in  the  same  war  sev- 

[116] 


TORPEDOES  AND  MINES 

eral  vessels  hit  by  torpedoes  sustained  no  material 
injury. 

In  the  war  between  Russia  and  Japan  there  was 
such  extensive  use  of  torpedoes  that  their  posi- 
tion as  engines  of  destruction  is  now  fairly  well 
established. 

The  torpedoes  in  general  use  by  the  Japanese 
navy  in  this  war  were  about  twenty-two  feet  long, 
eighteen  inches  in  diameter,  and  weighed  in  the 
neighborhood  of  two  thousand  pounds.  Each 
torpedo  carried  about  two  hundred  pounds  of  ex- 
plosive, traveled  at  the  rate  of  about  thirty  miles 
an  hour,  and  had  a  range  up  to  two  thousand 
yards. 

So  far  as  is  known,  however,  no  effective  work 
was  done  at  this  extreme  range. 

But  at  shorter  ranges  the  torpedo  has  indicated 
its  position  as  an  effective  weapon.  "  This 
weapon,"  says  an  authority  on  the  subject  re- 
cently, "  for  many  years  the  subject  of  contempt 
and  despised  by  the  highest  naval  authorities,  has 
suddenly  become  a  most  effective  and  dangerous 
weapon  both  for  defense  and  offense.  Farragut's 
method  of  treating  torpedoes  [i.e.,  disregarding 
them]  is  no  longer  applicable."  This  being  the 
case,  two  results  must  necessarily  follow — efforts 
will  be  made  to  make  the  torpedo  still  more  ef- 
fective, and  equally  strenuous  efforts  will  be  made 
to  reducing  its  effectiveness  when  used  by  an 
enemy. 

It  is  quite  possible,  also,  that  it  may  be  em- 
ployed in  many  ways  hitherto  not  attempted. 

[117] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

"  One  useful  field  of  employment  of  the  tor- 
pedo, "  says  Lieutenant  L.  H.  Chandler,  U.S.N., 
"  is  for  the  defense  of  harbors  not  suitable  for 
mining,  both  from  regular  or  improvised  torpedo 
batteries  on  shore,  or  from  submarine  boats.  It 
is  well  known  that  there  are  many  harbors  in 
which,  owing  to  a  great  depth  of  water,  rapid 
currents,  or  other  causes  of  a  like  nature,  it  is 
almost  impossible  to  establish  a  thoroughly  re- 
liable system  of  mines.  Here  we  have  a  field 
where  the  automobile  torpedo  is  without  a  rival. 

"  The  advantages  offered  by  this  style  of  har- 
bor defense  in  places  where  mines  are  not  avail- 
able, or  even  as  an  adjunct  to  mines,  are  so  great 
that  I  am  at  a  loss  to  understand  why  it  has  not 
been  taken  up.  A  more  powerful  torpedo  could 
be  used  from  permanent  shore  batteries  than  it 
is  possible  to  carry  aboard  ship,  where  the  con- 
fined space  available  for  handling  marks  the  pres- 
ent five-meter  torpedo  as  about  the  limit  in  length. 
By  increasing  the  dimensions  of  the  torpedo  to 
about  double  those  of  that  now  in  use  aboard  ship, 
I  see  no  reason  why  a  range  of  five  thousand 
yards,  with  a  speed  for  that  distance  of  thirty 
knots,  should  not  be  attained  by  a  torpedo  carry- 
ing two  hundred  pounds  of  explosive;  and  such  a 
weapon  should  give  a  speed  of  over  forty  knots 
for  one  thousand  yards. 

"  From  a  shore  battery  where  range  and  posi- 
tion of  the  enemy  can  be  readily  determined  such 
a  weapon  should  be  absolutely  accurate  and  re- 
liable. 

[118] 


TORPEDOES  AND  MINES 

"  I  believe  that,  in  all  harbor  defense  work,  but 
especially  in  those  special  harbors  where  the  use  of 
stationary  mines  is  beset  with  unusual  difficulties, 
the  use  of  the  automobile  torpedo  is  an  absolute 
necessity,  and  one  which  it  is  very  unwise  to  neg- 
lect in  the  way  we  are  now  doing.  Regular  shore 
submerged  batteries,  with  powerful  torpedoes; 
extemporized  shore  batteries,  submerged  or 
otherwise,  with  our  service  weapon;  and  the  mo- 
bile torpedo  batteries  furnished  by  the  submarine 
boats;  taken  in  conjunction  with  such  stationary 
mines  as  can  be  used,  will  beyond  question 
form  a  defensive  barrier  that  it  would  be  madness 
for  a  hostile  fleet  to  attempt,  and  the  two  mobile 
features  of  such  a  defense  would  also  go  far  to 
keep  such  a  fleet  at  a  respectful  distance  from  the 
harbor  mouth.'' 

To  combat  these  weapons,  or  rather  the  vessels 
for  carrying  them,  the  rapid-fire  gun  is  of  ever 
growing  importance.  Indeed,  the  Russo-Japanese 
War  demonstrated  the  necessity  of  providing 
great  numbers  of  rapid-fire  guns  for  coast  de- 
fense. It  will  be  recalled  that  at  the  very  begin- 
ning of  hostilities  the  Japanese  torpedo  boats 
darted  into  the  harbor  of  Port  Arthur  and  sank 
three  Russian  warships.  Port  Arthur's  harbor 
was  not  well  equipped  with  small  rapid-fire  guns 
that  could  be  trained  quickly  on  the  rapidly  mov- 
ing torpedo  craft.  Had  it  been,  possibly  there 
might  be  a  different  story  to  tell  of  that  incident 
of  the  war. 

At  the  present  time  the  United  States  is  con- 
[119] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

gratulating  itself  on  the  possession  of  a  new  tor- 
pedo which  is  in  some  respects  the  most  effective 
weapon  of  this  type  ever  constructed.  It  is  known 
as  the  Bliss-Leavitt  torpedo  and  is  supposed  to 
have  a  range  something  like  twice  as  great  as  that 
of  the  older  type. 

Its  novel  feature  is  the  adaptation  of  the  tur- 
bine principle  to  its  motive  power,  a  blast  of  com- 
pressed air  acting  on  the  turbine  arrangement  of 
its  machinery  in  the  same  manner  that  the  blast 
of  steam  acts  in  the  turbine  engine. 

The  torpedo  is  sixteen  and  three-fourths  feet 
long,  with  a  maximum  diameter  of  seventeen  and 
three-fourths  inches,  and  weighs  about  one  thou- 
sand two  hundred  and  thirty  pounds.  It  is  fired 
from  the  ordinary  torpedo  tube — a  long  greased 
tube  of  peculiar  shape — the  initial  impulse  in 
starting  being  given  by  compressed  air.  The  tor- 
pedo will  travel  one  thousand  two  hundred  yards 
in  a  minute,  and  has  a  possible  range  of  four 
thousand  yards  at  which  it  may  be  effective.  This 
long  range  leads  many  experts  to  believe  that  the 
smaller  guns  on  warships  will  become  unpopular, 
since  their  range  is  scarcely  more  than  that  of  the 
torpedo,  and  could  not,  therefore,  be  used  to  keep 
the  torpedo  boat  at  a  safe  distance. 

But  this  has  not  been  demonstrated  in  actual 
warfare,  and  it  is  unlikely  that  even  this  perfected 
weapon  will  revolutionize  fighting  methods  to  any 
great  extent. 


[120] 


TORPEDOES  AND  MINES 

SUBMARINE   MINES 

Submarine  mines  are1  simply  stationary  tor- 
pedoes submerged  and  anchored  along  a  ship 
channel,  and  either  exploded  by  some  electrical 
device  from  a  station  on  shore  or  by  contact  with 
a  passing  ship. 

The  desirability  of  using  such  dangerous  and 
uncertain  means  of  protecting  harbors  and  rivers 
has  been  the  subject  of  discussions  for  almost  half 
a  century.  The  actual  destruction  of  an  enemy's 
ship  by  such  mines  has  occurred  rarely,  and  the 
protection  afforded  is  considered  by  some  authori- 
ties as  not  in  adequate  proportion  to  the  cost  and 
danger  involved;  and  since  the  introduction  of 
such  light-draught  and  rapidly  moving  vessels 
as  torpedo  boats  and  destroyers  belief  in  this 
method  of  protecting  harbors  has  probably 
greatly  diminished.  In  the  Busso-Japanese  War, 
at  least  one  battle  ship  was  destroyed  by  acci- 
dental fouling  of  one  of  its  own  mines,  and  it  is 
known  that  in  this  war  and  in  the  Spanish-Amer- 
ican War  vessels  repeatedly  passed  over  mine 
fields  without  injury. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  moral  effect  of  a  mined 
channel  is  undoubtedly  very  great,  and  most  com- 
manders of  battle  ships  would  hesitate  before  at- 
tempting to  pass  through  a  channel  strewn  with 
mines.  Moreover,  the  destruction  of  the  British 
superdreadnought  Audacious  by  a  mine  laid  by 
the  Germans  off  the  coast  of  Ireland,  which  oc- 
curred October  27th,  1914,  proved  once  for  all  that 

[121] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

mines  constitute  a  menace  that  even  the  most 
powerful  of  battle  ships  cannot  ignore. 

The  use  of  mines  by  the  Confederates  during 
the  American  Civil  War  is  undoubtedly  respon- 
sible for  the  impetus  given  their  popularity  which 
had  decreased  since  the  Crimean  War,  in  which 
they  were  employed  unsuccessfully  by  the  Bus- 
sians. 

Several  vessels  were  destroyed  by  the  Confed- 
erate mines,  and  the  mouths  of  several  rivers  and 
harbors  successfully  guarded  for  some  time  by 
their  use  alone.  But  the  conditions  presented  by 
the  Civil  War  were  peculiar,  and  not  likely  to  be 
duplicated.  The  South  had  no  boats  and  no  com- 
merce ;  her  sole  aim,  therefore,  was  to  seal  up  her 
harbors  against  all  vessels.  Had  she  possessed  a 
navy  or  a  merchant  marine,  her  mined  harbors 
might  have  reacted  against  her,  as  with  the  Ger- 
mans in  a  few  instances  during  the  Franco-Prus- 
sian War,  where  German  vessels  were  captured 
outside  their  harbors  because  they  did  not  dare 
seek  refuge  from  the  enemy  by  crossing  their  own 
mine  fields. 

On  one  point,  however,  there  is  no  ground  for 
dispute:  the  disastrous  effect  of  a  mine  exploded 
in  contact  with  the  hull  of  a  battle  ship  is  beyond 
question.  The  only  question  involved  is  whether 
the  protection  afforded  is  commensurate  with  the 
danger  and  expense ;  and  whether  more  protection 
could  not  be  given  if  the  same  expenditure  of 
money  was  made  in  providing  guns  and  other 
coast  defenses  in  place  of  mines. 

[122] 


TORPEDOES  AND  MINES 

Shortly  after  the  American  Civil  War  three 
types  of  mines  came  into  use,  and  have  remained 
in  use  until  the  present  time,  modified  and  im- 
proved to  meet  recent  conditions. 

The  first  of  these  are  known  as  "  observation  " 
mines,  connected  by  cables  with  an  observation 
point  on  shore  and  fired  by  an  observer  when  an 
enemy's  vessel  is  over  the  mine,  or  within  its  de- 
structive area.  These  mines  cannot  be  fired  by 
contact,  and  so  may  be  placed  in  harbors  where 
friendly  vessels  are  passing  in  and  out.  They  are 
of  little  use  in  foggy  weather,  however,  and  the 
uncertainty  of  firing  them  at  the  right  moment, 
due  to  the  mis  judgment  of  a  ship's  position,  less- 
ens their  value  as  protectors.  Two  mines,  prob- 
ably of  this  type,  were  exploded  near  Admiral 
Dewey's  ships  when  entering  Manila  Bay,  but 
the  explosions  were  premature,  and  no  damage 
was  done. 

The  second  class  of  mines  are  electro-contact 
mines,  which  may  explode  automatically  when 
struck,  but  which  are  usually  fired  from  a  shore 
station,  where  they  indicate  automatically  the 
contact  of  a  passing  vessel  by  an  electric  indi- 
cator. These  mines  are  connected  by  cable  with 
the  shore  and  can  be  disconnected  and  rendered 
harmless  without  removal.  They  can  also  be 
tested  readily  from  time  to  time — a  necessary  ex- 
pedient in  southern  waters,  as  shown  by  the  ex- 
amination of  Spanish  mines  about  such  harbors 
as  Santiago,  where  seaweeds  and  marine  growths 
soon  rendered  many  of  the  mines  worthless.  Un- 

[123] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

like  the  observation  mines,  these  mines  might  be 
used  as  important  auxiliary  harbor  defenses  dur- 
ing foggy  weather. 

They  are  fired  from  a  station,  an  electric  sig- 
naling device  warning  the  operator  when  a  vessel 
is  in  contact  with  one  of  the  mines. 

But  by  this  arrangement  a  friendly  vessel  at- 
tempting to  pass  over  the  mines  at  night,  or  dur- 
ing a  fog,  might  be  destroyed  unless  the  operator 
had  been  apprised  of  the  nature  of  the  passing 
craft. 

The  third  type  of  mine,  the  "  mechanical  con- 
tact "  mine,  made  to  explode  by  contact  with  a 
vessel,  is  not  connected  with  the  shore  in  any  way, 
and  is  only  intended  for  use  in  harbors  closed 
to  friends  and  foes  alike.  Such  mines  cannot  be 
tested  in  any  way,  are  dangerous  to  place  in  posi- 
tion, and  even  more  so  to  remove.  Like  all  the 
submarine  mines,  they  have  a  tendency  to  break 
loose  from  their  anchorage,  and  float  about,  be- 
coming thus  the  most  dangerous  type  of  dere- 
licts. 

It  is  supposed  to  have  been  mines  of  this 
type  that  destroyed  the  Eussian  battle  ship 
PetropavlovsJc,  one  of  the  Japanese  battle 
ships,  and  the  British  superdreadnought  Auda- 
cious. 

When  the  channel  in  which  the  mines  are  to  be 
placed  is  very  shallow  the  mines  may  be  placed 
along  the  bottom  and  are  known  as  "  ground 
mines."  If  the  channel  is  deep,  however,  they 
are  given  sufficient  buoyancy  to  allow  them  to 

[124]  ' 


TORPEDOES  AND  MINES 

float  above  their  fastenings  at  a  certain  distance 
below  the  surface  of  the  water. 

The  explosive  used  in  mines  is  usually  gun 
cotton  or  dynamite,  and  the  charges  range  from 
fifty  to  five  hundred  pounds — sufficient  to  destroy 
the  largest  ships. 

Mined  channels  may  be  cleared  of  their  explo- 
sives by  what  is  known  as  countermining.  This  is 
done  by  exploding  heavy  charges  of  dynamite  or 
gun  cotton  along  the  channel  to  be  cleared,  the 
shock  of  the  explosion  causing  any  mine  within 
a  certain  radius  to  be  exploded.  The  effective 
radius  at  which  a  mine  may  be  exploded  with  cer- 
tainty by  the  explosion  of  five  hundred  pounds  of 
dynamite  or  gun  cotton  is  about  one  hundred 
feet. 

Thus  if  five-hundred-pound  charges  are  ex- 
ploded every  two  hundred  feet  along  the  channel 
a  passageway  two  hundred  feet  wide  can  be 
cleared,  and  if  carefully  buoyed  will  admit  battle 
ships  without  danger. 

Special  "  dynamite  ships  "  have  been  con- 
structed fitted  with  tubes  for  discharging  large 
charges  of  explosives,  which  may  be  used  for 
clearing  mine  fields. 

The  United  States  ship  Vesuvius  was  such  a 
vessel;  but  although  it  took  some  part  in  the 
Spanish-American  War,  its  value  as  a  counter- 
miner  was  not  tested.  The  torpedoes  fired  by  this 
vessel,  however,  were  of  the  aerial,  and  not  of 
the  submarine  type,  and  were  projected  from  air 
guns  specially  designed  for  the  purpose. 

[125] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

In  this  connection  something  should  be  said  of 
the  aerial  torpedo  guns,  although  their  work  in 
actual  warfare  has  not  been  particularly  satis- 
factory up  to  the  present.  Several  such  guns  of 
special  construction  are  now  in  place  in  the 
United  States,  the  harbors  of  New  York  and  San 
Francisco  having  them  mounted  as  part  of  the 
harbor  defenses. 

AIE   GUNS   OB  DYNAMITE   GUNS 

The  idea  of  utilizing  compressed  air  as  a  pro- 
pellant  is  an  old  one,  but  has  never  been  turned 
to  practical  account  until  recent  years. 

Experiments  with  this  means  of  projecting 
shells  was  stimulated  by  the  introduction  of  such 
powerful  and  sensitive  explosives  as  dynamite, 
which  could  not  be  projected  by  ordinary  powders. 
By  using  compressed  air,  however,  such  explo- 
sives might  be  thrown  considerable  distances 
without  danger,  and  a  practical  air  gun  for 
this  purpose  was  finally  invented  and  perfected 
by  Captain  Zalinski  of  the  United  States 
army. 

It  is  guns  of  this  type,  made  as  fifteen-inch 
built-up,  smooth-bores,  capable  of  throwing  a  pro- 
jectile containing  six  hundred  pounds  of  blasting 
gelatin  two  thousand  four  hundred  yards,  that 
are  in  place  in  New  York  and  San  Francisco  har- 
bors ;  but  their  value  in  actual  warfare  has  never 
been  tested. 

These  guns  are  capable  of  using  a  lighter  sub- 
[126] 


TORPEDOES  AND  MINES 

caliber  shell  which  can  be  thrown  a  distance  of 
six  thousand  yards  with  great  accuracy. 

Smaller  Zalinski  guns  were  tried  experimentally 
on  some  of  the  American  submarine  boats,  but 
without  marked  success.  The  shells  used  in  such 
guns  are  of  peculiar  structure,  being  made  of 
light  steel  and  provided  with  a  tail  or  vanes  for 
rotating.  They  are  constructed  so  as  to  explode 
by  contact,  but  they  may  also  be  timed  to  explode 
at  a  given  distance  below  the  surface  of  the  water. 

In  the  Cuban  War,  great  air  guns  throwing 
five  hundred  pounds  of  gun  cotton  were  tested 
from  the  Vesuvius;  but  they  were  chiefly  effica- 
cious in  tearing  great  holes  in  the  earth  without 
inflicting  conspicuous  injury  on  the  fortifications 
at  Santiago,  against  which  they  were  directed. 

TORPEDO  BOATS  AND  DESTROYERS 

The  modern  torpedo  boat  is  the  outgrowth  of 
the  achievements  of  torpedoes  during  the  Ameri- 
can Civil  War,  previously  referred  to. 

Several  vessels  on  both  sides  were  sunk  by 
torpedoes  carried  by  small  boats  of  various  types 
during  this  war,  and  the  result  was  an  awakened 
interest  in  such  weapons,  and  the  boats  best  suited 
for  carrying  them.  As  the  automobile  torpedo 
had  not  come  into  use,  the  idea  embodied  in  the 
first  torpedo  boats  was  to  product  small,  incon- 
spicuous vessels  that  could  dart  in  under  cover 
of  darkness  or  smoke  and  explode  a  spar  torpedo. 

Such  boats  were  constructed  soon  after  the 
[127] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

close  of  the  Civil  War,  the  first  one  being  the 
Miranda,  built  in  England  in  1872.  But  only  one 
successful  attack  by  this  type  of  boat  and  spar 
torpedo  is  recorded,  that  being  the  sinking  of  the 
Chinese  boat  by  the  French  in  1884,  referred  to  a 
few  pages  back. 

Smokeless  powder  and  searchlights  soon  made 
attacks  of  this  nature  out  of  the  question,  but 
meanwhile  the  introduction  of  the  automobile 
torpedo  enabled  the  torpedo  boat  to  act  at  longer 
range,  and  soon  the  thin-shelled,  rapidly  moving 
torpedo  boat,  of  the  peculiar  and  characteristic 
shape  now  so  familiar,  came  into  existence. 

To  cope  with  these  boats,  larger,  faster,  and 
more  heavily  armed  boats  were  built,  these  being 
known  at  first  as  torpedo  gun  boats,  and  later  as 
torpedo  boat  destroyers. 

In  shape,  general  plan,  and  appearance  the  de- 
stroyer is  practically  identical  with  the  torpedo 
boat,  the  main  difference  being  in  its  larger  size, 
greater  speed,  and  heavier  guns.  It  carries  tor- 
pedoes and  may  be  used  for  attack  the  same  as  the 
smaller  boat;  in  fact,  the  distinction  between  the 
two  kinds  of  boats  is  practically  unrecognized  in 
actual  usage,  and  it  seems  likely  that  the  larger 
type  of  boat  will  replace  the  smaller  one  in  the 
future. 

For  attacking  battle  ships  and  cruisers  these 
boats  carry  torpedoes  which  are  discharged  from 
tubes  on  the  decks ;  but  for  attacking  or  resisting 
boats  of  their  own  class  they  carry  a  few  small 
rapid-fire  guns,  such  destroyers  as  the  United 

[128] 


TORPEDOES  AND  MINES 

States  boat  Lawrence  having  two  twelve-pound- 
ers, five  six-pounders,  and  two  torpedo  tubes. 

Such  boats  have  practically  no  protective 
armor,  depending  entirely  upon  their  speed  and 
small  size  to  protect  them. 

Within  the  last  few  years  the  turbine  engine  has 
enabled  some  of  these  boats  to  develop  a  speed 
of  about  thirty-four  knots,  and  this  type  of  engine 
is  likely  to  supplant  the  old  reciprocating  type 
in  the  near  future. 

Torpedo  craft  in  general  range  in  size  from 
two  hundred  and  fifty  to  five  hundred  tons'  dis- 
placement, and  all  recent  boats  attain  a  speed  of 
at  least  twenty-five  knots.  The  destroyers,  or 
larger  types  of  boats,  are  therefore  very  sea- 
worthy vessels,  having  a  large  radius  of  action, 
and  as  dispatch  boats  and  scouts  have  been  found 
most  useful,  very  generally  replacing  the  fast 
cruisers  for  this  purpose  in  the  war  between  Eus- 
sia  and  Japan.  From  the  experiences  of  this  war 
it  seems  likely  that  the  proportionate  number  of 
destroyers  will  be  very  generally  increased  in 
navies  in  the  future,  with  a  corresponding  de- 
crease in  the  number  of  small  torpedo  boats  and 
possibly  of  fast,  unprotected  cruisers. 

TOKPEDO  CEAFT  LESSONS  OF  THE  RUSSO-JAPANESE  WAR 

On  the  morning  of  February  9th,  1904,  the  ex- 
pectant world  received  the  following  message 
from  the  Far  East: 

"  About  midnight  the  Japanese  torpedo  boats 
[129] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

delivered  a  sudden  attack  on  the  squadron  lying 
in  the  Chinese  roads  at  Port  Arthur,  the  battle 
ships  Retvizan  and  Cesarevitch  being  injured." 

It  was  a  message  of  the  Russian  Admiral 
Alexieff  to  his  emperor.  Later  he  added:  "  None 
of  the  three  ships  damaged  was  sunk.  The 
Cesarevitch  is  damaged  in  her  steering  compart- 
ment, the  Retvizan  in  the  part  containing  the 
pumping  apparatus  below  the  water  line.  The 
damage  to  the  Pallada  is  amidships,  not  far  from 
the  engines."  And  it  gave  the  Eussian  casualties 
as  two  seamen  killed,  five  drowned,  and  eight 
wounded. 

Naturally  this  startling  first  blow  of  the  long- 
expected  war  excited  the  widest  comment  from 
all  over  the  world,  both  in  military  and  civil  cir- 
cles ;  and  possibly  the  most  interesting  feature  of 
these  comments  was  the  wide  divergence  of  opin- 
ion between  military  and  civil  writers  as  to  what 
lesson  of  warfare  had  been  taught  by  the  action 
between  battle  ships  on  one  side  and  torpedo  boats 
on  the  other.  To  most  civilians  it  seemed  to 
demonstrate  that  the  day  of  the  heavy  battle  ship 
had  passed;  that  the  destroyer  had  made  the  bat- 
tle ship  obsolete. 

But  among  the  naval  experts  the  opposite 
opinion  prevailed.  To  them  the  result  of  the 
battle  in  the  Far  East  justified  the  existence  of 
the  great  battle  ship. 

Judged  by  the  brief  news  of  the  result  alone — 
three  modern  fighting  ships  put  out  of  action,  and 
no  Japanese  torpedo  craft  injured — it  would  seem 

[130] 


TORPEDOES  AND  MINES 

that  the  conclusion  of  the  layman  was  better  than 
that  of  the  naval  expert.  But  when  all  the  facts 
connected  with  the  case  are  considered,  and  in 
the  light  of  events  that  followed,  there  is  little 
doubt  that  the  naval  men  were  correct  in  their 
estimate. 

For  many  years  it  has  been  conceded  that,  given 
a  favorable  opportunity  to  strike,  a  torpedo  boat 
could  sink  a  battle  ship  almost  with  mathematical 
certainty.  Given  a  dark,  calm  night,  with  the  bat- 
tle ships  lying  at  anchor,  unprotected  by  nets, 
scouts,  or  searchlights,  and  allow  the  torpedo 
flotilla  to  approach  within  the  easy  range  of  six 
hundred  yards  without  detection — given  these  un- 
usual conditions,  few  people,  civil  or  military, 
ever  doubted  that  any  number  of  battle- 
ships might  be  destroyed  by  a  flotilla  of  torpedo 
craft. 

Yet  these  conditions  prevailed  at  Port  Arthur 
on  the  night  of  February  8-9,  and  only  three  Rus- 
sian ships  were  injured,  and  these  only  to  such 
an  extent  as  to  keep  them  a  few  weeks  out  of  com- 
mission. 

The  action  of  the  Eussian  commander  on  the 
night  of  the  attack  was  that  of  literally  courting 
the  destruction  of  his  fleet.  Contrary  to  all  the 
tenets  of  modern  warfare  he  brought  his  vessels 
to  anchor  in  an  open  roadstead,  and  neglected 
even  the  ordinary  precaution  of  using  search- 
lights. Under  these  circumstances  the  Japanese 
torpedo  boat  flotilla,  selecting  its  own  time  and 
position,  crept  to  within  six  hundred  yards  of  the 

[131] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

battle  ships  (according  to  the  Japanese  estimates) 
and,  firing  deliberately,  failed  to  destroy  a  single 
boat. 

Theoretically  they  should  have  sent  every  one 
to  the  bottom. 

And  it  should  not  be  forgotten  in  this  connec- 
tion that  there  are  no  more  skillful  torpedo  crafts- 
men in  the  world  than  the  Japanese.  It  is  not  sur- 
prising, therefore,  that  the  advocates  of  the  bat- 
tle ship  drew  a  sigh  of  relief  when  the  results  of 
this  action  became  known.  The  great,  seven-mil- 
lion-dollar, armor-clad  sea-monster,  with  twelve- 
inch  guns  and  seven  hundred  fighting  men,  had 
justified  its  existence. 

About  six  months  after  this  first  battle  another 
series  of  torpedo  attacks  by  the  Japanese  on  a 
single  partially  disabled  battle  ship  still  further 
strengthened  the  opinion  of  the  naval  men  as  to 
the  fighting  qualities  of  the  battle  ship.  On  June 
23d  the  Eussian  battle  ship  Sevastopol  was  in- 
jured by  the  explosion  of  a  mine.  Three  months 
later  she  received  another  injury  in  the  same  spot 
from  another  mine,  the  second  being  much  more 
serious  than  the  first,  badly  crippling  her.  Never- 
theless on  December  9th  she  was  able  to  move  out 
from  Port  Arthur  and  take  refuge  under  Chong- 
ten-shan,  out  of  range  of  the  Japanese  shore  guns. 
Her  rapid-fire  guns  were  removed,  all  of  her  crew 
but  a  hundred  men  were  sent  ashore,  and  she  was 
practically  abandoned,  although  surrounded  by 
torpedo  nets. 

In  this  position,  crippled,  and  all  but  helpless, 
[132] 


TORPEDOES  AND  MINES 

she  was  attacked  by  the  Japanese  destroyers  on 
December  9th,  13th,  14th,  15th,  and  16th,  these 
vessels  steaming  past  her  at  a  range  of  one  thou- 
sand two  hundred  yards,  discharging  a  great  num- 
ber of  torpedoes,  many  of  which  exploded  in  the 
nets,  but  none  of  which  injured  her. 

Finally,  during  a  blinding  snowstorm,  one  tor- 
pedo got  home  and  exploded,  injuring  but  not  dis- 
abling the  already  crippled  fighter. 

All  this,  of  course,  seems  unfavorable  to  the 
torpedo  boat.  But  this  is  by  no  means  the  same 
as  saying  that  this  type  of  fighting  craft  is  a 
failure.  Indeed,  the  results  were  just  about  what 
the  majority  of  naval  observers  had  predicted 
that  they  would  be. 

But  the  work  of  the  torpedo  boats  at  the  battle 
of  the  Sea  of  Japan  a  few  months  later  showed 
that  for  certain  well-defined  purposes  these  boats 
have  their  place  in  modern  warfare.  That  place, 
however,  as  all  naval  men  knew,  is  not  in  the  line 
of  fire  among  battle  ships  in  a  daylight  battle,  such 
as  that  in  the  Sea  of  Japan.  But  in  the  darkness 
of  the  night  following  the  battle,  when  the  bat- 
tered fighters  of  Russia,  crippled  and  exhausted 
with  hours  of  fighting,  huddled  together  and  at- 
tempted to  find  some  rest  or  some  avenue  of 
escape — then  it  was  that  the  torpedo  boat  demon- 
strated its  possibilities. 

Swarming  around  the  doomed  vessels,  rushing 
boldly  upon  them  until  the  range  was  so  short 
that  there  was  no  chance  of  missing  the  mark, 
the  Japanese  torpedo  boat  flotilla  continued  the 

[133] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

work  that  the  battle  ships  had  begun  so  well  in 
daylight,  and  before  morning  sent  six  of  the  en- 
emy's fighting  ships  to  the  bottom. 

Here  at  last  was  the  really  important  field  of 
action  for  the  torpedo  boat  and  the  destroyer— 
to  give  the  death  stroke  to  a  crippled  but  still 
dangerous  enemy.  And  at  this  particular  work 
they  proved  themselves  ideal  vessels. 

Coming  fresh  into  the  fight,  against  opponents 
exhausted,  half  blinded,  with  many  small  guns 
disabled,  and  searchlights  shot  away  in  some  in- 
stances, the  torpedo  boats  were  able  to  rush  in  so 
close  that  they  were  completely  out  of  reach  of 
the  heavy  turret  guns,  which  could  not  be  de- 
pressed sufficiently  to  be  effective.  Here,  even 
with  the  searchlights  upon  them,  and  the  smaller 
guns  hammering  them,  so  close  that  the  Eussians 
could  see  the  men  moving  coolly  about  their  work, 
they  fired  their  torpedoes,  sinking  ship  after  ship. 
In  return  some  of  their  own  frail  boats  were  dis- 
abled and  sunk,  but  the  work  they  completed  offset 
their  loss  a  hundredfold. 

And  if  the  prestige  of  the  torpedo  boat  was 
waning  before  that  eventful  night's  work,  by  the 
following  day  it  was  as  bright  as  ever. 

The  torpedo  boat  is  to  the  navy,  then,  what  the 
cavalry  is  to  the  army.  It  cannot  stand  the  brunt 
of  battle,  cannot  hope  to  attack  a  well-arranged 
line  of  battle  ships,  even  in  the  night,  under  ordi- 
nary circumstances.  But  for  getting  home  the 
death  stroke  when  the  enemy  is  demoralized,  there 
is  nothing  as  yet  to  compare  with  these  frail 

[134] 


TORPEDOES  AND  MINES 

vessels.  They  are  essentially  close-quarter  fight- 
ers— the  dagger  or  mace,  only  to  be  used  when 
the  lance  and  sword  are  no  longer  available — but 
like  these  minor  weapons  of  the  knight,  they  are 
quite  as  indispensable  to  a  fighting  equipment. 

It  is  not  unlikely,  however,  that  a  torpedo  boat 
of  an  altogether  novel  type  will  play  an  important 
part  in  warfares  of  the  future.  Justification  of 
this  expectation  is  found  in  the  remarkable  work 
accomplished  recently  by  Mr.  John  Hays  Ham- 
mond, Jr.,  in  the  development  of  an  apparatus  for 
controlling  the  direction  of  a  boat  by  means  of 
wireless  impulses  sent  from  the  shore. 

Mr.  Hammond's  experimental  boat,  called  the 
Natalia,  has  demonstrated  the  feasibility  of  his 
system,  being  sent  hither  and  thither  at  the  will 
of  the  operator,  having  no  person  on  board  and 
being  solely  under  radio-control. 

It  is  obvious  that  a  spar  torpedo  attached  to 
such  a  craft  would  render  the  vessel  a  torpedo 
boat  of  a  novel  and  peculiarly  dangerous  type. 
Moreover,  Mr.  Hammond  is  said  to  have  applied 
his  mechanism  of  radio-control  directly  to  the  tor- 
pedo itself,  demonstrating  that  the  only  limit  to 
the  effective  control  of  such  a  torpedo  is  the  limit 
of  vision  as  aided  by  the  telescope.  So  even  at 
its  present  stage  of  development  the  radio-con- 
trolled torpedo  appears  to  furnish  a  new  means 
of  coast  defense  of  great  value.  Its  limitations 
can  be  determined  only  by  tests  in  actual  warfare. 


[135] 


VII 
MODERN  BREECH-LOADING  CANNON 

IT  will  be  recalled  that  after  the  first  introduc- 
tion of  breech-loading  cannon  they  were  for 
a  time  replaced  by  muzzle-loaders,  owing  to 
the  imperfections  in  the  breech  mechanism  which 
made  them  dangerous  to  use,  at  the  same  time 
giving  little  advantage  over  muzzle-loading  guns 
in  the  time  required  for  loading.  But  when  the 
disaster  to  the  muzzle-loading  gun  occurred  to 
the  war  vessel  Thunderer,  showing  that  even  more 
serious  accidents  might  occur  with  muzzle-loading 
guns  than  with  breech-loaders,  the  attention  of 
the  military  and  naval  men  was  again  directed  to 
the  breech-loader. 

The  danger  in  using  the  first  breech-loaders  lay 
particularly  in  the  possibility  of  premature  firing 
of  the  piece  before  the  breech  was  completely 
closed. 

This  difficulty  was  easily  overcome  by  a  simple 
device  whereby  it  was  impossible  to  fire  the  gun 
until  the  breech  was  locked.  About  the  same  time, 
great  improvements  were  made  in  the  breech 
mechanism  itself,  so  that  it  could  be  opened  much 
more  easily  than  in  the  first  breech-loading  guns. 

In  those  first  guns  the  breech  piece  consisted  of 
[136] 


BREECH-LOADING  CANNON 

a  solid  piece  of  metal,  fitted  with  threads  and 
screwed  into  place  after  the  manner  of  the  com- 
mon screw.  This  consumed  much  time  both  in 
opening  and  closing  the  breech,  as  the  screw  was 
necessarily  a  long  one,  requiring  a  number  of 
turns  either  to  remove  or  replace  it. 

To  overcome  this  defect  several  types  of  breech 
blocks  were  invented,  the  Germans  for  a  time  fa- 
voring what  is  known  as  the  wedge,  or  block  sys- 
tem, while  the  French  were  experimenting  with 
what  came  to  be  known  as  the  "  interrupted 
screw  "  system. 

Both  of  these  systems,  greatly  modified,  are  still 
in  use  with  certain  classes  of  guns,  but  in  the 
heavier  ordnance  the  interrupted  screw  has  now 
come  into  general  use  to  the  exclusion  of  the  other 
system. 

In  the  interrupted  screw  system  the  breech 
block  is  made  with  a  screw  thread  of  the  requisite 
length,  and  the  breech  of  the  gun  into  which  it  is 
to  fit  is  made  with  a  similar  female, screw  to  re- 
ceive it.  But  instead  of  the  continuous  line  of 
screw  threads  the  block  is  divided  into  six  equal 
parts  and  in  each  alternate  part  the  screw  thread 
is  entirely  removed. 

In  the  corresponding  alternate  parts  of  the 
breech  of  the  gun  the  screw  threads  are  also 
planed  away  so  that  the  breech  block  may  be 
pushed  into  place  without  any  turning  motion 
and  fastened  there  by  a  one-sixth  turn. 

By  this  arrangement  the  breech  block  is  of 
course  weakened  by  one-half,  but  this  defect  is 

[137] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

easily  remedied  by  doubling  the  length  of  the 
screw. 

In  this  way  the  breech-loading  process  was 
greatly  facilitated,  breech  blocks  of  any  size  or 
length  being  opened  simply  by  a  one-third,  quar- 
ter, or  sixth  turn,  whereas  the  same  sized  block 
made  with  a  continuous  screw  would  require  ten 
or  twelve  complete  turns. 

This  improvement  alone  would  have  insured  the 
adoption  of  the  breech-loader ;  but  another  factor 
introduced  at  about  the  same  time  as  the  improved 
breech  block  also  aided  in  determining  it.  This 
was  the  introduction  of  slow-burning  powder. 

With  quick-burning  powder,  the  force  of  the 
explosion  is  exerted  chiefly  at  the  base  of  the 
gun,  and  for  using  such  powder  weapons  of  great 
thickness  at  the  base  (though  perhaps  very  thin 
at  the  muzzle)  were  necessary,  as  the  force  of  the 
explosion  was  expended  within  a  comparatively 
few  inches  of  the  breech.  With  slow-burning 
powder,  however,  this  force  could  be  distributed 
more  uniformly  along  the  barrel ;  and  as  the  pres- 
sure was  more  uniformly  exerted  along  the  entire 
length  of  the  barrel  it  became  necessary  to 
strengthen  the  muzzle  by  thickening  it,  while  a 
corresponding  decrease  in  thickness  towards  the 
breech  was  possible. 

The  length  of  the  gun  was  also  increased,  the 
greater  length  up  to  a  certain  point  giving  great 
velocity. 

With  such  greatly  lengthened  cannon,  muzzle 
loading  was  out  of  the  question,  as  the  space  re- 

[138] 


BREECH-LOADING  CANNON 

quired  for  running  in  the  gun,  manipulating  the 
rammer,  etc.,  was  not  available,  particularly  on 
shipboard,  where  space  is  always  at  a  premium. 

Shortly  after  this  improvement  in  breech 
mechanism  there  was  also  an  improvement  in  the 
form  of  ammunition  used.  This  was  the  intro- 
duction of  metallic  cartridge  cases — practically 
enlarged  forms  of  the  ordinary  rifle  cartridge 
case,  at  least  for  the  smaller  caliber  guns.  Such 
cartridges  served  the  double  purpose  of  facilitat- 
ing loading  and  controlling  the  escape  of  gas.  In 
the  early  type  of  breech-loader,  before  the  intro- 
duction of  the  metallic  cartridge  cases,  a  great 
difficulty  was  encountered  in  making  the  breech 
absolutely  air  tight.  To  overcome  this  difficulty 
some  sort  of  obturator  was  necessary,  frequently 
a  peculiarly  shaped  pad  of  asbestos. 

But  the  metallic  cartridge  case  did  away  with 
this  device,  the  rim  of  the  cartridge  case  serving 
the  same  purpose  even  better  than  the  specially 
designed  obturator. 

With  the  introduction  of  ammunition  fixed  in 
metallic  cartridges,  quick-firing  guns  became  pos- 
sible, such  guns  holding  the  same  relative  posi- 
tion to  ordinary  cannon  that  the  breech-loading 
rifle  does  to  the  ordinary  musket.  For  the  lighter 
type  of  cannon  the  cartridges  used  are  closely 
similar  to  the  ordinary  rifle  or  revolver  cartridge, 
in  the  principles  of  construction  as  well  as  in  ap- 
pearance, the  projection,  powder,  and  percussion 
cap  all  being  fixed  in  a  single  piece. 

With  the  heavier  type  of  ordnance,  however, 
[139] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

there  are  certain  disadvantages  in  the  use  of  such 
cartridges  if  made  in  a  single  piece. 

Thus  if  such  cartridges  were  made  with  the 
projectile  fastened  to  the  cartridge  case,  it  would 
be  necessary  to  make  this  case  of  great  thickness 
and  strength;  and  the  entire  weight  would  be  so 
great  that  manipulating  without  the  aid  of  ma- 
chinery would  become  impossible.  By  actual  ex- 
perience it  has  been  demonstrated  that  such  heavy 
pieces  of  ordnance  may  be  loaded  and  fired  quite 
as  rapidly  if  the  projectile  and  the  cartridge  cases 
are  made  in  separate  pieces,  as  they  are  then  suf- 
ficiently light  so  that  the  men  about  the  gun  can 
handle  them  quickly. 

Another  disadvantage  of  having  such  large  pro- 
jectiles fixed  in  metallic  cases  with  percussion 
explosives  in  place  is  the  constant  danger  of 
accidental  explosion. 

It  is  customary,  therefore,  with  cartridge  cases 
of  larger  projectiles,  not  to  have  the  percussion 
cap  attached.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  in  most  of  the 
modern  types  of  guns,  the  electric  fuse  has  re- 
placed the  percussion  cap  for  heavy  ordnance. 
But  such  guns  are  usually  made  so  as  to  use 
either  the  electric  or  the  percussion  system,  chang- 
ing from  one  to  the  other  without  any  loss  of  time. 

In  such  cases  the  percussion  fuse  would  ordi- 
narily not  be  used  unless  the  electrical  firing  de- 
vice were  shot  away  or  became  accidentally  in- 
operable. 

Constant  improvement  and  simplification  of  the 
breech-block  mechanism  has  been  made,  until  fin- 

[140] 


BREECH-LOADING  CANNON 

ally  the  process  of  opening  and  closing  the  largest 
type  of  gun  is  done  by  a  few  simple  motions  of 
one  man,  unaided  by  machinery.  With  everything 
but  the  heavier  natures  of  ordnance,  and  in  these 
also  in  some  cases,  opening  the  breech  and  par- 
tially extracting  the  cartridge  case  is  now  per- 
formed by  the  single  continuous  movement  of  a 
lever.  With  this  perfected  breech  mechanism  a 
quick-firing  gun,  even  of  six  inches  caliber,  us- 
ing metallic  cartridge  cases,  can  shoot  several 
more  shots  per  minute  than  the  ordinary  breech- 
loader, and  the  lighter  type  of  quick-firing  guns 
are  of  course  proportionately  quicker. 

It  should  not  be  understood,  however,  that  the 
method  of  loading  by  metallic  cartridge  cases  has 
entirely  replaced  the  older  method  of  inserting  the 
propellant  in  specially  prepared  silk  or  canvas 
bags.  There  is  a  certain  disadvantage  in  the  use 
of  ponderous  metallic  cases  for  the  heavier  guns 
which  has  not  sufficient  compensating  advan- 
tages to  make  their  use  imperative.  There  is  a 
danger  in  using  explosives  in  silk  bags,  however, 
which  is  entirely  obviated  by  metallic  cases.  The 
danger  lies  in  the  fact  that  certain  particles  of  the 
burning  silk  bag  are  likely  to  be  left  in  the  gun 
after  each  discharge. 

This  would,  of  course,  cause  premature  dis- 
charges with  disastrous  results,  if  not  detected 
before  the  charge  was  inserted. 

To  make  sure,  therefore,  that  no  sparks  remain 
in  the  gun,  the  breech  must  be  thoroughly  washed 
out  after  each  discharge.  This  is,  of  course,  very 

[141] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

inconvenient  and  consumes  precious  time,  and  it 
may  be  taken  for  granted  that  eventually  metallic 
cartridge  cases  in  some  form  or  other  will  re- 
place cloth  bags  in  the  heavier  types  of  ordnance, 
just  as  metallic  cartridges  have  replaced  all  other 
forms  of  ammunition  in  the  lighter  cannon  and  in 
rifles  and  revolvers. 

QUICK-FIRING  GUNS 

With  naval  guns  there  are  two  classes  of  quick- 
firers,  heavy  and  light. 

Eoughly  speaking  these  differ  from  each  other 
in  breech  mechanism,  method  of  firing,  and  kinds 
of  ammunition  used,  although  some  of  the  twelve- 
pounders,  while  classed  as  "  light  quick-firers," 
resemble  more  nearly  the  heavy  quick-firers  in 
mechanism.  No  two  navies  of  the  world  corre- 
spond exactly  in  the  sizes  of  the  calibers  of  the 
guns,  but  generally  speaking  the  heavy  quick- 
firing  guns  range  in  caliber  from  four-inch  to  six- 
inch  guns,  although  some  of  the  very  recent  eight- 
inch  and  even  nine-inch  guns  are  classed  as  rapid- 
firers.  The  light  rapid-fire  guns  range  from  the 
twelve-pounders  to  the  one-pounders,  the  three- 
and  six-pounders  being  perhaps  the  most  popular. 

The  six-pounders  and  all  smaller  guns  are 
trained  and  fired  by  the  gunner  with  a  shoulder 
piece  like  a  gun  stock. 

The  six-inch  quick-firer  may  be  taken  as  the  best 
representative  of  the  heavy  rapid-fire  class  of 
guns.  Its  normal  rate  of  fire  is  about  four  shots 

[142] 


BREECH-LOADING  CANNON 

per  minute,  as  against  the  older  breech-loading 
six-inch  gun's  four  shots  in  three  minutes,  the 
metallic  cartridge  accounting  principally  for  this 
difference. 

The  electric  primer  is  also  a  distinct  time-saver 
over  the  tube  system  in  use  with  the  ordinary 
six-inch  guns,  as  the  piece  is  ready  for  firing  the 
moment  the  breech  is  closed  when  this  primer  is 
used,  whereas  the  tube  cannot  be  inserted  until 
afterwards  in  the  older  guns. 

There  are  practically  no  disadvantages  in  the 
quick-firing  gun  in  comparison  with  the  older 
type,  and  the  new  guns  of  six-inch  caliber  or  less 
are  all  made  as  quick-firers,  and  many  of  the  older 
type  of  guns  have  been,  and  are  being,  converted 
into  quick-firers. 

There  is  also  a  difference  of  opinion  among 
ordnance  experts  as  to  the  type  of  guns  adapted 
to  the  "  fixed  ammunition  r  —that  is,  ammunition 
in  which  the  shell  and  projectile  form  one  piece, 
as  in  the  ordinary  rifle  cartridge. 

In  the  British  navy,  for  example,  practically 
all  ammunition  larger  than  that  for  the  six- 
pounders  is  of  the  "  separate  loading  "  type,  the 
cartridge  case  containing  the  charge  and  the  pro- 
jectile being  separate.  In  other  navies,  however, 
much  larger  guns  are  loaded  with  projectiles  and 
cartridge  cases  made  in  one  piece,  and  there  is  no 
question  that  some  speed  in  firing  is  gained  by 
this  arrangement. 

When  such  cartridges  are  made  with  electric 
fuses  the  danger  of  accidental  explosion  is  mini- 

[143] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

mized,  and  as  this  is  apparently  tli£  principal 
reason  for  the  British  Admiralty's  not  adopting 
such  cartridges,  it  seems  that  they  are  lagging 
behind  some  of  the  other  powers  in  this  respect. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  if  an  accidental  explosion 
were  to  occur  in  a  closely  packed  magazine  the 
destructive  effects  would  be  so  great  that  a  few 
extra  hundredweight  of  exploding  shells  and  car- 
tridges would  make  no  practical  difference  in  the 
result. 

LIGHT   QUICK-FIRING  GUNS 

The  perfection  of  the  torpedo  and  torpedo  boats 
made  necessary  the  type  of  small  cannon  known 
as  quick-fire  or  rapid-fire  guns. 

As  we  have  seen,  the  torpedo  may  be  success- 
fully launched  at  a  distance  of  at  least  one  thou- 
sand yards,  and  possibly  twice  that  distance,  with 
fair  chance  of  success.  It  is  necessary  to  destroy 
or  disable  the  torpedo  boat,  therefore,  before  it 
has  approached  within  that  distance,  and  for  re- 
pelling such  attacks  the  light  rapid-fire  guns  are 
practically  adapted.  For  the  approach  of  the 
best  type  of  torpedo  boat  or  destroyer  can  be 
made  so  rapidly,  that  to  cover  the  distance  from  a 
point  out  of  ordinary  range  of  the  one-,  three,-  or 
six-pounders,  to  within  torpedo  range,  only  re- 
quires from  one  to  three  minutes. 

During  this  interval  of  time,  therefore,  the 
rapid-fire  guns  must  do  their  work. 

And  as  the  target  presented  is  a  small  and 
[144] 


BREECH-LOADING  CANNON 

rapidly  moving  one,  every  possible  means  is 
taken  to  make  these  little  guns  rapid  and  accurate. 
That  this  has  been  accomplished  is  shown  by  the 
fact  that  as  high  as  thirty  shots  a  minute  can  be 
fired  with  these  guns,  and  as  many  as  twelve  hits 
out  of  fifteen  scored.  There  are,  indeed,  auto- 
matic guns  of  the  same  calibers  that  shoot  even 
faster  than  this,  but  these  will  be  considered  in 
another  section,  and  they  should  not  be  confused 
with  the  guns  described  here. 

The  quick-firing  guns  are  usually  mounted  so 
that  the  gunner,  standing  with  the  shoulder  pad 
against  his  left  shoulder  and  grasping  the  trigger 
with  his  right  hand,  can  turn  the  gun  about  freely, 
elevating  or  depressing  it,  or  training  it  to  right 
or  left  at  will,  always  keeping  his  eyes  on  the 
target.  The  breech-block  system  does  not  re- 
semble that  of  the  heavier  type  of  guns,  but  in 
place  of  the  interrupted  screw  mechanism  it  has 
a  "  falling  block,"  or  some  similar  system, 
worked  by  a  lever  and  resembling  the  falling- 
block  arrangement  of  the  ordinary  sporting  rifle. 

A  single  movement  of  a  lever  opens  the  breech 
and  ejects  the  empty  shell,  and  a  reverse  move- 
ment of  this  lever  closes  the  breech  and  cocks  the 
piece  ready  for  firing. 

As  the  gunner  does  not  remove  his  eye  from 
the  sight  in  firing,  great  accuracy  in  shooting  is 
possible,  and  handling  such  a  gun  becomes  very 
much  like  using  the  ordinary  sporting  rifle  held 
in  a  rest. 

It  is  on  guns  of  this  type,  and  machine  guns, 
[145] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

that  battleships  must  depend  for  warding  off  tor- 
pedo boats,  and  for  this  reason  every  available 
space  on  the  modern  war  vessel,  from  deck  to 
fighting  top,  is  utilized  for  mounting  them.  But 
the  ordinary  type  of  small  caliber  machine  gun, 
such  as  the  Maxim  or  Colt,  is  no  longer  consid- 
ered formidable  enough  to  cope  with  the  large 
type  of  destroyer  now  replacing  the  earlier  and 
smaller  torpedo  vessels. 

This  principle  of  automatic  action,  however, 
is  now  applied  to  heavier  guns,  which  will  be  re- 
ferred to  again  at  length  in  another  place. 

HEAVY    MODERN   ORDNANCE 

In  determining  the  best  type  of  heavy  cannon, 
each  country  has  its  own  idea  as  to  what  sizes  and 
weights  best  fulfil  the  conditions  to  be  expected 
in  warfare. 

It  is  obvious  that  heavier  guns  may  be  used  in 
land  batteries  than  on  shipboard;  while,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  battle  ship  is  able  to  use  heavier 
guns  than  could  ordinarily  be  employed  for  siege 
purposes  or  by  armies.  But  after  taking  into 
account  all  probable  conditions  likely  to  be  en- 
countered, certain  sizes  of  heavy  guns  have  come 
to  be  generally  recognized  by  most  nations  as 
fulfilling  all  requirements. 

The  twelve-inch  gun,  for  example,  had  gradu- 
ally come  to  be  considered  as  the  ideal  heavy  gun 
for  battle  ships  until  the  coming  of  the  super- 
dreadnought. 

[146] 


BREECH-LOADING  CANNON 

Of  course,  the  ideal  gun,  everything  else  being 
equal,  will  be  the  lightest  one,  not  only  on  ac- 
count of  the  rapidity  of  fire  possible  with  the 
smaller  guns,  but  also  on  account  of  the  space  oc- 
cupied by  ammunition  and  the  extra  cost  of  the 
projectile  and  powder.  The  question  of  the  sav- 
ing space  is  not  usually  a  vital  one  with  stationary 
land  batteries,  to  be  sure;  but  aside  from  this, 
most  of  the  other  conditions  must  be  considered 
equally  in  the  making  of  weapons  to  be  used  on 
land  as  well  as  on  the  sea. 

There  are,  to  be  sure,  certain  monstrous  guns 
mounted  for  coast  defense  work  which  are  alto- 
gether too  large  and  unwieldy  to  be  used  on  ship- 
board. Such  a  gun  was  the  one  exhibited  at  the 
World's  Fair  in  St.  Louis  with  a  bore  sixteen 
inches  in  diameter,  firing  a  shell  some  twenty 
miles,  and  costing  in  the  neighborhood  of  one 
thousand  dollars  for  each  round  fired.  Similar 
guns  are  still  made  and  are  in  service  not  only  in 
the  United  States  but  in  certain  foreign  countries. 
Their  possibilities  of  destructive  action  have  been 
demonstrated  in  the  case  of  the  German  siege 
guns  (said  to  be  of  forty-two-centimeter  caliber) 
transported  by  automobiles  and  used  against  the 
Belgian  and  French  fortifications  in  the  early 
autumn  of  1914. 

Some  of  the  older  battle  ships  still  carry  guns 
whose  caliber  is  as  great  as  the  gun  exhibited  in 
St.  Louis;  but  such  guns  are  simply  hold-over 
weapons  of  a  past  epoch  in  gunmaking.  Even 
thirteen-inch  guns,  such  as  are  used  on  the  Amer- 

[147] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

lean  battle  ships  Oregon  and  Massachusetts,  are 
no  longer  made. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  newest  superdread- 
noughts,  including  the  New  York  and  the  Texas, 
are  equipped  with  fourteen-inch  guns. 

All  guns  at  the  present  time  are  of  the  built-up 
type,  but  in  place  of  the  heavy  forged  jackets  in 
use  for  so  many  years  some  nations  are  now 
using  guns  built  up  of  successive  layers  of  steel 
wire,  these  layers  being  protected  by  one  or  more 
jackets  of  solid  metal.  Such  guns  have  proved 
superior  in  many  ways  to  the  older  type  of  guns. 
The  principle  of  the  wire-wound  gun  is  an  old 
one  and  has  been  in  use  for  many  years  in  the 
manufacture  of  the  barrels  of  sporting  pieces. 

It  will  be  recalled  also  that  the  leather  cannon 
of  Gustavus  Adolphus  were  "  wound  "  guns,  al- 
though the  material  he  used  was  leather  or  rope 
and  not  steel  wire. 

Some  idea  of  the  revolutionary  changes  that 
have  taken  place  in  heavy  guns  used  in  naval  war- 
fare may  be  gained  from  comparison  of  the  best 
type  of  gun  used  at  the  close  of  the  American 
Civil  War  with  the  corresponding  heavy  gun  in 
use  to-day.  This  comparison  is  fairly  indicative 
of  the  actual  progress  made,  as  the  American 
navy  at  the  close  of  the  Civil  War  was  the  largest 
navy  in  existence,  and  its  ordnance  was  unsur- 
passed by  that  of  any  foreign  power. 

The  heaviest  piece  of  ordnance  in  the  1865  war 
was  the  fifteen-inch  muzzle-loading  smooth-bore; 
while  to-day  this  piece  is  represented  by  the 

[148] 


BREECH-LOADING  CANNON 

twelve-inch,  breech-loading  rifle.  This  fifteen- 
inch  gun  weighed  about  forty-two  thousand 
pounds  as  against  one  hundred  and  ten  thousand 
pounds  of  the  modern  rifle.  The  thickness  of 
these  two  guns  at  the  breech  is  about  the  same,  but 
the  modern  gun  is  almost  three  and  one-half  times 
as  long.  The  maximum  charge  of  the  smooth- 
bore was  one  hundred  pounds  of  powder,  which 
shot  a  projectile  weighing  four  hundred  and  fifty 
pounds.  The  charge  of  explosive  for  the  twelve- 
inch  gun  is  three  hundred  and  sixty  pounds  of 
smokeless  powder,  and  its  shell  weighs  about  eight 
hundred  and  fifty  pounds. 

The  muzzle  energy  of  the  fifteen-inch  smooth- 
bore was  slightly  less  than  eight  thousand  foot- 
tons,  while  that  of  the  twelve-inch  rifle  is  some- 
thing over  forty-six  thousand  foot-tons. 

The  most  striking  thing  in  this  comparison  is 
the  respective  number  of  shots  that  each  gun  was 
capable  of  firing  before  becoming  useless  or  dan- 
gerous. The  number  of  full  charges  that  could 
be  fired  by  the  fifteen-inch  smooth-bore  was 
limited  to  twenty;  while  that  of  the  twelve-inch 
gun,  using  nitro-cellulose  powder,  is  about  five 
hundred. 

BUILT-UP  AND   WIRE-BOUND   GUNS 

As  we  have  seen,  the  strain  put  upon  cannon 
by  modern  explosives  makes  it  necessary  to 
strengthen  them  in  an  unusual  manner. 

A  gun  that  is  cast  in  one  piece,  as  the  cannon 
[149] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

of  a  hundred  years  ago  were  made,  would  be 
shattered  by  the  first  discharge. 

It  is  customary,  therefore,  to  strengthen  the 
guns,  either  by  shrinking  on  successive  jackets  of 
steel,  which  are  kept  in  a  state  of  tension  all  the 
time  so  that  every  particle  of  the  gun  receives  the 
shock  of  the  detonation  at  the  same  time  and  so  di- 
vides it  equally;  or  by  winding  on  successive 
layers  of  steel  wire,  which  have  the  same  effect 
as  the  steel  jackets.  Indeed,  it  seems  certain  that 
wire-wound  guns  are  superior  to  the  jacket  guns; 
and  as  these  are  likely  to  be  the  popular  form  of 
cannon  for  some  time  to  come  at  least,  a  some- 
what fuller  description  of  them  may  be  of  in- 
terest. 

The  modern  wire-wound  gun  is  the  outcome  of 
the  efforts  of  the  English  civil  engineer,  J.  A. 
Longridge,  begun  more  than  half  a  century  ago. 
His  attention  was  called  to  the  subject  during 
the  Crimean  War  by  the  frequent  failure  of  the 
guns  then  in  use. 

"  After  much  consideration,"  he  wrote,  "  I 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  best  method  of 
constructing  a  cylinder  to  resist  internal  pressure 
was  to  take  a  comparatively  thin  tube  and  put 
upon  it  successive  coils  of  wire,  each  coil  being 
laid  on  with  a  definite  tension,  varying  according 
to  some  law,  which  would  be  expressed  by  a  func- 
tion of  the  radial  distances  of  such  coil  from  the 
axis  of  the  cylinder.  In  this  way,  provided  each 
initial  tension  of  laying  on  were  properly  calcu- 
lated, the  completed  cylinder  would  be  in  a  state 

[150] 


BREECH-LOADING  CANNON 

of  varied  initial  stress,  and  when  such  stress  was 
supplemented  by  the  stress  arising  from  the  in- 
ternal pressure  due  to  the  explosion  of  the  pow- 
der, the  stress  under  fire  would  be  uniform 
throughout  the  whole  thickness  of  the  cylinder. 
To  determine  the  proper  tension  of  laying  on  to 
fulfil  these  conditions  was  a  mathematical  prob- 
lem of  some  complexity,  but  it  was  solved  and 
embodied  in  a  formula  which  is  still  in  use.  This 
invention  was  the  subject  of  my  first  paper,  dated 
May  24,  1855." 

So  confident  was  Longridge  of  the  advantages  of 
his  gun  that  he  constructed  one  on  the  lines  out- 
lined above,  and  offered  it  free  of  cost  to  the  Brit- 
ish government;  but  because  of  prejudice  and 
ignorance  of  some  of  the  officials,  it  was  not  ac- 
cepted. And  it  was  not  until  twenty-five  years 
later,  when  Armstrong  began  experimenting  with 
wire-wound  guns,  that  it  dawned  upon  military 
authorities  that  they  had  retarded  gun  construc- 
tion a  full  quarter  of  a  century. 

In  the  meantime  three  American  inventors  had 
become  interested  in  wire-wound  guns,  'Wood- 
bridge,  Crozier,  and  Brown.  Indeed,  Woodbridge 
had  made  a  wire-wound  gun  some  five  years  ear- 
lier than  Longridge,  in  England.  But  this  first 
gun  was  a  failure,  owing  to  some  mechanical  de- 
fects, and  it  was  not  until  after  the  experiments 
of  Armstrong  that  any  great  progress  was  made 
in  this  country.  Later,  Woodbridge  made  several 
other  wire-wound  guns  of  improved  patterns,  and 
Crozier 's  guns  proved  to  be  serviceable  weapons; 

[151] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

but  in  many  ways  the  guns  of  Mr.  Brown,  which 
have  been  improved  year  by  year,  are  perhaps  the 
most  remarkable  guns  of  American  manufacture. 

In  the  manufacture  of  the  Brown  gun  the  in- 
ternal compression  tube  is  built  up  of  a  number 
of  longitudinal  steel  bars  or  staves,  wrapped  to- 
gether under  the  tension  of  steel  wire.  In  this 
manner  a  highly  elastic  tube  is  possible,  which 
has  proved  advantageous  in  actual  tests  as  well 
as  theoretically.  The  advantages  as  summarized 
by  a  naval  expert  are  as  follows : 

1.  In  consequence  of  the  small  weight  of  each 
of  the  component  parts  of  the  gun,  crucible  steel 
can  be  used  economically.  2.  The  small  size  of  the 
segments  and  the  ingot  from  which  they  are 
rolled  admit  of  their  being  carefully  cast  and 
uniformly  forged,  so  as  to  insure  uniformity  of 
metal,  and  of  their  being  thoroughly  annealed. 

3.  As  they  can  be  readily  rolled  into  shape,  the 
method  of  construction  is  exceedingly  economical. 

4.  They  can  be  thoroughly  and  conveniently  in- 
spected.    5.  The  size  and  thinness  of  each  seg- 
ment insure  a  thorough  and  uniform  tempering 
and  annealing,  if  temper  be  considered  desirable. 
6.  The  size  of  the  segments  admits  of  readily  set- 
ting up  conditions  of  special  elasticity  by  cold 
work. 

These  advantages,  while  possibly  not  appealing 
to  anyone  but  the  expert  as  being  of  great  impor- 
tance, are  really  so,  as  is  shown  by  the  perform- 
ances of  the  finished  gun.  But  one  fact  is  appar- 
ent to  anyone — the  modern  high-power  gun  is  a 

[152] 


THE  EUROPEAN  WAR 
British,  with  machine  guns,  take  up  a  position  in  a  ditch,  in  France. 


LEWIS  MACHINE  GUN 

With  this  gun  the  Belgians  checked   the   advance  of  the  Germans 
through  their  territory. 


BREECH-LOADING  CANNON 

complicated  affair,  the  solid-appearing,  finished 
product  giving  no  hint  of  the  numerous  pieces 
and  layers  of  metal  squeezed  into  its  steel  jacket. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  process  of  manufacture 
the  bars  for  the  core  of  the  gun  are  assembled  and 
clamped  together  in  a  manner  not  unlike  that  of 
a  cooper  assembling  barrel  staves  and  held  with 
temporary  hoops. 

The  core  so  made  is  then  placed  in  a  lathe,  the 
two  ends  machined,  and  the  breech  and  muzzle 
nuts  are  shrunk  on. 

The  gun  is  then  turned  down  to  the  proper  size 
in  the  lathe,  and  the  process  of  winding  begun. 

The  wire  used  is  of  specially  tempered  steel, 
and  is  not  made  in  the  shape  of  ordinary  wire, 
but  is  rectangular  in  section,  so  that  in  winding 
there  is  no  loss  of  space,  as  there  would  be  if  wire 
of  the  ordinary  shape  were  used. 

When  the  winding  is  finished  the  gun  is  bored 
out,  a  steel  jacket  shrunk  on  over  the  wire,  and  a 
thin  steel  tube,  or  "  liner, "  inserted  in  the  bore. 
The  weapon  is  then  ready  for  finishing  with 
breech  piece  and  mountings.  It  will  be  under- 
stood that  this  winding  process  is  a  most  delicate 
and  important  one.  Special  machinery  is  used 
to  keep  the  wire  at  a  proper  tension,  at  the  same 
time  winding  it  on  evenly,  as  the  strength  and 
value  of  the  weapon,  when  completed,  will,  for 
reasons  just  given,  depend  upon  the  tension  of 
the  wire  windings. 


[153] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

MACHINE   GUNS 

The  term  "  machine  gun  "  has  come  to  be  ap- 
plied to  the  type  of  rapid-fire  small-caliber  rifle 
which,  when  once  started,  continues  to  fire  four 
hundred  to  seven  hundred  shots  a  minute,  the 
entire  process  being  automatic,  part  of  the  energy 
of  the  explosion  of  the  cartridge  being  utilized 
to  recharge  and  discharge  the  piece. 

Such  guns  are  of  very  recent  origin,  the  first 
attempts  approaching  success  with  such  a  weapon 
being  in  1870-71,  when  the  French  made  use  of 
a  multiple-barreled  gun  called  a  mitrailleuse.  In 
actual  practice  this  gun  was  not  very  successful. 
It  was  made  of  some  twenty-five  or  more  rifle 
barrels  mounted  in  parallel  round  an  axis,  with  a 
breech  mechanism  by  which  all  the  barrels  could 
be  loaded  and  discharged  at  once. 

In  this  way  a  shower  of  bullets  could  be  thrown 
at  one  discharge. 

But  unfortunately  these  bullets  as  fired  struck 
all  together  in  practically  the  same  spot  at  close 
range.  So  that  while  the  number  of  aimed  bullets 
discharged  at  a  single  discharge  almost  equaled 
the  volley  of  an  entire  company  of  infantry,  the 
space  covered  by  the  bullets  so  fired  was  scarcely 
more  than  that  covered  by  two  or  three  men.  For 
this  reason  the  mitrailleuse  was  wasteful  of  am- 
munition, besides  being  awkward  and  slow  to  load, 
and  having  a  recoil  sufficient  to  necessitate  reaim- 
ing  before  every  discharge. 

The  first  really  successful  machine  gun,  which 
[154] 


BREECH-LOADING  CANNON 

was  semi-automatic  in  action,  was  the  invention 
of  Dr.  K.  J.  Gatling,  of  the  United  States,  with 
which  five  hundred  shots  per  minute  could  be  fired 
in  succession  by  simply  turning  a  crank  at  the  base 
of  the  gun. 

These  shots,  fired  in  succession,  were  not  con- 
fined to  a  given  space,  but  could  be  scattered 
broadcast  at  any  angle,  horizontal  or  vertical. 
The  superiority  of  such  a  weapon  over  the  French 
mitrailleuse  was  so  evident  that  it  was  speedily 
adopted  into  all  leading  armies  of  the  world. 

The  Gatling  gun  is  constructed  of  ten  ordinary 
rifle  barrels  arranged  cylindrically  to  revolve 
about  a  central  axis.  Only  a  single  barrel  is  dis- 
charged at  a  time,  the  other  nine  being  necessary 
to  the  mechanism  of  loading  and  unloading.  In 
this  way  a  rapid  succession  of  shots  is  possible; 
although  the  actual  number  fired  by  each  barrel 
is  only  one  in  ten.  In  this  way  overheating  is 
avoided  more  readily  than  is  possible  if  the  shots 
are  fired  from  a  single  barrel. 

Cartridges  are  supplied  to  the  barrels  through 
a  hopper  placed  at  the  base  of  the  gun,  the  car- 
tridges dropping  one  at  a  time  through  a  slot 
made  for  the  purpose.  A  drum  containing  the 
cartridges  is  placed  over  the  hopper,  and  this  sup- 
plies them  to  the  barrels,  the  rate  of  discharge 
being  regulated  by  the  rate  at  which  the  firing 
handle  is  turned. 

Absolutely  accurate  aim  is  somewhat  interfered 
with  by  the  necessary  vibration  of  the  crank 
movement  and  the  recoil;  but  at  the  ordinary 

[155] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

range  the  aim  can  be  made  sufficiently  accurate 
to  make  the  Gatling  gun  a  most  deadly  weapon. 
Closely  packed  lines  of  men  advancing  in  close 
order  after  the  manner  of  half  a  century  ago 
would  be  completely  wiped  out  in  a  few  seconds  at 
ordinary  musket  range  by  a  single  Gatling  or 
automatic  gun. 

What  can  be  done  with  such  weapons  against 
masses  of  men  was  demonstrated  by  Lord  Kitch- 
ener in  the  battle  of  Omdurman,  when  the  der- 
vishes lost  over  ten  thousand  killed  and  fifteen 
thousand  wounded  and  taken  prisoners,  in  at- 
tempting to  rush  the  inferior  British  forces  armed 
with  artillery,  automatic  guns,  and  repeating 
rifles.  The  British  casualties  were  less  than  five 
hundred,  all  told. 

Shortly  after  the  perfection  of  the  Gatling  gun, 
experimental  patterns  of  which  have  been  made 
to  fire  nearly  one  thousand  shots  per  minute,  an- 
other machine  gun,  known  as  the  Gardner  gun, 
came  into  use.  This  gun  was  quickly  superseded, 
however,  by  a  somewhat  similar  gun  called  the 
Nordenfelt  gun,  which  was  worked  with  a  crank 
in  much  the  same  way  as  the  Gatling  gun,  but  in 
which  the  barrels  were  placed  horizontally  instead 
of  spirally. 

This  gun  was  thought  to  be  better  adapted 
to  use  on  shipboard,  but  it  never  gained  the  uni- 
versal popularity  of  the  Gatling. 

Meanwhile  attempts  were  being  made  to  make 
an  actually  automatic  gun — one  in  which  the 
energy  of  the  propellant  could  be  used  instead  of 

[156] 


BREECH-LOADING  CANNON 

the  crank,  as  in  the  Gatling  and  Nordenfelt  guns. 

As  early  as  1884  Hiram  Maxim  had  taken  out 
patents  for  such  a  gun,  and  by  1889  he  had  so 
perfected  it  that  it  was  adopted  into  the  British 
army.  In  this  wonderful  gun,  and  guns  of  its 
type,  the  loading,  firing,  extracting,  and  ejecting 
are  all  performed  by  the  gun  itself  after  the 
initial  shot  is  fired,  so  that  once  the  gun  is  started 
firing  it  will  continue  at  the  rate  of  six  hundred 
or  more  shots  per  minute  without  human  aid  or 
assistance. 

The  Maxim  has  but  a  single  barrel,  the  breech 
mechanism  of  which  is  actuated  by  the  force  of 
the  recoil.  It  is  thus  a  most  striking  example  of 
utilizing  energy  that  would  otherwise  be  wasted, 
without  impairing  the  energy  imparted  to  the 
bullet. 

The  cartridges  are  supplied  to  the  gun  on  a 
specially  constructed  belt,  which  runs  transversely 
through  the  base  of  the  gun. 

The  recoil  of  the  first  cartridge  discharged  puts 
in  motion  the  machinery  which  ejects  the  empty 
shell,  reloads  the  chamber  of  the  barrel,  and  fires 
the  cartridge,  repeating  this  seemingly  compli- 
cated process  at  the  rate  of  six  hundred  shots  per 
minute. 

In  another  type  of  automatic  gun  which  acts 
equally  well,  the  force  of  a  small  portion  of  the 
gas  of  the  cartridge  itself  is  utilized,  in  place  of 
the  recoil,  for  manipulating  the  automatic  mechan- 
ism. The  Hotchkiss  gun  and  the  Colt  gun  act  on 
this  principle. 

[157] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

In  these  guns  there  is  a  minute  vent  hole  in  the 
barrel  near  the  muzzle  of  the  gun,  this  vent  com- 
municating with  a  tube  leading  to  the  machinery 
in  the  breech  of  the  gun.  When  the  bullet  has 
passed  this  minute  hole  in  the  barrel,  gas  escapes 
into  the  tube  below  with  enough  force  to  set  in 
motion  the  mechanism  which  ejects  the  empty 
shell,  reloads,  and  again  discharges  the  piece ;  and 
this  is  repeated  until  the  ammunition  is  exhausted, 
or  until  the  operator  wishes  to  cease  firing. 

Although  differing  from  the  Maxim  in  principle 
and  detail,  in  rate  of  fire  and  reliability,  the  Hotch- 
kiss  and  the  Colt  guns  are  probably  not  inferior. 
On  this  subject  experts  do  not  agree,  the  English 
preferring  the  Maxim,  the  French  the  Hotchkiss, 
and  the  Americans  the  Colt  guns. 

The  great  defect  of  all  automatic  guns  is  the 
rapid  heating  of  the  barrel. 

The  Maxim  gun  is  fitted  with  a  water  jacket  to 
obviate  this,  and  where  a  supply  of  water  is  plenti- 
ful this  works  very  satisfactorily.  The  rate  at 
which  the  barrel  is  heated,  however,  is  shown  by 
the  fact  that  seven  and  one-half  pints  of  water  in 
the  jacket  are  heated  to  boiling  point  by  a  minute 
and  a  half  of  firing.  To  keep  such  a  gun  con- 
tinuously in  action  for  any  length  of  time,  there- 
fore, is  a  serious  problem,  particularly  in  open 
field  operations  where  water  is  scarce. 

The  water  jacket  is  not  used  in  the  Hotchkiss 
or  Colt  guns.  In  place  of  this  the  Hotchkiss  has 
a  so-called  * t  radiator  ' '  on  the  barrel — a  series  of 
ridges  affording  an  increased  surface  to  the  air. 

[158] 


BREECH-LOADING  CANNON 

The  Colt  gun  is  provided  with  a  very  heavy  barrel 
to  meet  the  condition  of  overheating;  and  besides 
this,  a  puff  of  air  is  driven  through  the  barrel 
automatically  after  each  discharge,  thus  cleaning 
and  cooling  it  slightly. 

Another  great  problem  in  using  machine  guns  in 
the  field  is  that  of  ammunition  supply.  Such  guns 
are  extremely  wasteful,  a  target  when  hit  being 
usually  riddled  with  a  number  of  bullets  where 
one  would  suffice.  But  in  this  respect  they  are  no 
different  from  the  Gatling  or  the  Nordenfelt  guns, 
and  the  absence  of  the  crank  movement  makes 
more  accurate  aim  and  better  shooting  possible. 

All  of  the  types  of  automatic  guns  just  de- 
scribed have  been  tested  in  actual  warfare  and 
found  satisfactory;  but  the  Colt  gun  has  a  slight 
advantage  of  greater  portability,  being  somewhat 
lighter  than  either  of  the  other  two. 

When  the  practicality  of  these  automatic  guns 
of  small  caliber  is  considered,  it  is  only  natural 
to  wonder  why  something  on  the  same  principle 
could  not  be  applied  to  guns  of  much  larger  cali- 
ber. Why  would  it  not  be  possible,  for  example, 
to  make  one-pounders,  three,  six,  and  even  larger 
guns  on  the  principle  of  the  machine  gun,  since 
the  ammunition  they  use  is  practically  the  same 
in  all  essentials? 

This  question  has  been  answered  in  the  affirma- 
tive by  the  gunmakers,  as  proved  by  the  "  pom- 
pom "  of  Boer  War  fame  and  other  large-caliber 
automatic  guns  now  in  use. 

It  was  in  the  Boer  War  that  the  possibilities  of 
1 159  ] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

the  pom-pom  were  first  made  evident,  although 
Sir  Hiram  Maxim,  the  inventor,  had  tried  in  vain 
to  interest  British  military  authorities  in  this 
weapon.  There  is  little  douht  that  many  of  the 
officers  of  the  British  force  when  the  Boer  War 
started  had  never  more  than  vaguely  heard  of  the 
pom-pom.  But  when  these  terribly  destructive 
weapons,  manned  by  a  handful  of  men,  began 
pouring  British-made  one-pound  shells  into  the 
British  ranks  at  the  rate  of  some  three  hundred  a 
minute  it  was  realized  that  someone  in  authority 
had  been  caught  napping,  or  had  erred  in  judg- 
ment. 

A  little  later,  Sir  Hiram  Maxim,  in  addressing 
some  remarks  to  a  body  of  military  men  who  were 
discussing  the  possibilities  of  the  machine  gun, 
gave  the  following  story  of  the  development  of 
the  pom-pom,  how  it  came  to  be  invented,  and  why 
the  English  army  did  not  adopt  it. 

"  If  the  British  government  did  not  know 
about  the  pom-pom, "  said  Sir  Hiram,  "  it  was  not 
my  fault,  for  there  is  no  man  who  ever  appre- 
ciated the  value  of  that  arm  more  than  I  did,  and 
no  man  who  tried  harder  to  get  it  into  the  service ; 
but  it  was  always  with  the  same  fate.  It  was  said 
that  the  gun  is  unnecessarily  large  to  kill  a  man, 
and  is  altogether  too  small  to  be  considered  a  piece 
of  artillery;  therefore,  there  was  no  room  for  the 
pom-pom,  or  the  37-mm.  gun,  as  we  call  it,  in  any 
branch  of  His  Majesty's  service. 

"  Well,  they  said,  suppose  you  have  some  of 
these  guns;  why,  a  single  piece  of  artillery  will 

[160] 


BREECH-LOADING  CANNON 

put  a  whole  battery  of  them  out  of  action  in  five 
minutes. 

"  But  what  happened?  The  Boers  wanted 
some,  and  the  directors  of  the  firm  sent  the  late 
Admiral  Commeral  round  to  the  War  Office,  ask- 
ing whether  they  objected  to  their  selling  their 
guns  to  some  other  nation.  They  said  they  had 
not  the  least  objection.  What  happened  in  the 
end?  We  found  that  instead  of  a  single  piece  of 
artillery  putting  a  battery  of  these  guns  out  of 
action  in  a  few  minutes,  that  three  Boers  with  one 
of  them  put  a  battery  of  English  field  guns  out 
of  action.  That  is  what  took  place. 

"  The  history  of  this  pom-pom  has  never  been 
told.  When  I  went  into  the  machine-gun  business 
I  was  simply  an  engineer  and  electrician;  but  I 
had  learned  my  trade  fairly  well.  I  made  a  gun 
and  took  it  down  to  Hythe  to  fire  in  the  presence 
of  Lord  Wolseley.  The  authorities  there  had 
never  seen  such  a  gun  before.  Usually  the  guns 
jammed;  they  could  not  fire  them  at  all.  I  re- 
member that  there  was  a  lecture  about  machine 
guns,  and  so  much  said  about  their  jamming  and 
getting  out  of  action  that  the  general  opinion 
seemed  to  be  that  they  were  useless. 

"  When  Lord  Wolseley  saw  this  first  gun  fired 
at  a  target  600  yards  away,  which  was  made  of 
cast  iron,  and  when  we  ceased  firing  we  heard 
forty  shots  strike  the  target  after  we  stopped,  it 
was  very  impressive.  There  were  a  lot  of  bullets 
in  the  air  and  a  lot  of  sound  waves  coming  back, 
and  we  heard  those  after  the  gun  stopped  firing. 

[161] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

I  had  the  honor  of  a  seat  at  the  right  hand  of  his 
lordship,  and  we  discussed  machine  guns,  and 
some  of  the  officers  joined  us  while  they  were 
smoking.  And  they  asked  me  if  I  could  make  a 
machine  gun  which  would  have  a  range  a  good 
deal  longer  than  the  present  one,  that  would  pene- 
trate a  torpedo  boat,  that  the  ammunition  should 
not  be  too  dear,  and  which  would  be  quite  as  effect- 
ive as  a  small  gun  for  meeting  a  crowd  of  sav- 
ages as  swords. 

"  After  studying  the  subject  a  long  time  I 
began.  We  had  a  large  powder  chamber,  a  three- 
quarter-inch  bore,  a  projectile  the  shape  of  those 
used  in  military  rifles,  but  the  bullet  had  a  steel 
core  in  it,  and  was  made  in  segments,  and  the 
sectors  of  this  were  made  by  the  envelope  of  lead 
or  tin.  It  was  strong  enough  to  hold  a  bullet  to- 
gether in  flight,  but  if  you  wanted  it  to  scatter 
you  could  move  a  little  lever,  which  brought  three 
or  four  points  of  steel  in  front  of  the  middle  and 
scratched  the  envelope,  and  gave  a  scattering  re- 
sult, like  grape  and  canister  at  short  range.  That 
seemed  to  meet  every  requirement. 

4 i  But  the  question  came  as  to  whether  it  would 
not  be  considered  an  explosive  bullet,  because  it 
all  went  to  pieces. 

1  i  So  I  changed  it  so  that  the  projectile  weighed 
over  one  pound — and  that  was  the  pom-pom ;  and 
that  is  how  the  pom-pom  happened  to  be  made. 
That  particular  form  of  gun  was  very  much  en- 
larged. The  first  one  used  ammunition  the  same 
as  the  Hotchkiss,  and  afterwards  they  were  made 

[162] 


BREECH-LOADING  CANNON 

considerably  larger  for  the  U.  S.  Government, 
and  still  larger  for  the  English.  So  that  the  pom- 
pom at  the  present  moment  is  rather  a  powerful 
arm,  considerably  longer  than  at  first.  It  first 
fired  400  rounds  a  minute,  but  I  have  reduced  the 
speed  down  to  300. " 

Upon  the  same  occasion  Sir  Hiram  gave  his 
views  about  the  relative  merits  of  the  different 
systems  of  automatic  guns — the  recoil  versus  the 
escaping  gas  system.  In  speaking  of  his  early 
efforts  and  experiments  he  said:  "  I  thought  it 
was  better  to  stick  to  the  recoil  system,  and  not 
gas-operated  guns,  although  I  brought  them  out  at 
the  same  time.  There  are  many  advantages  con- 
nected with  that  system  also ;  but  I  think  as  good 
an  illustration  as  we  can  have  is  that  the  Ameri- 
cans have  always  looked  upon  the  Maxim  gun  as 
having  been  invented  and  brought  out  in  England, 
and  as  being  an  English  gun,  although  I  am  an 
American  myself.  But  in  the  end,  although  they 
favored  the  Colt  gun  as  being  American,  they 
were  obliged  to  give  it  up,  and  now  Colt's  people 
are  making  a  Maxim  gun  worked  with  a  recoil,  and 
paying  us  a  royalty  at  the  present  moment.  So 
that  is  a  pretty  good  indication  that  those  which 
work  with  a  recoil  are  better  than  those  which 
work  with  gas  coming  out  at  the  sides  of  the 
barrel. " 

As  regards  the  possibility  of  making  automatic 
or  semi-automatic  guns  of  heavier  caliber  than  the 
pom-pom,  there  is  no  longer  any  question.  Such 
guns  are  now  made,  and  are  being  tested  by  all  the 

[163] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

military  nations  of  the  world,  although  details  as 
to  the  work  are  not  always  forthcoming. 

Naturally  Maxim  is  in  the  van  of  inventors  in 
this  field.  He  has  found  no  difficulty  in  putting 
out  a  nine-pounder  gun,  practically  automatic  in 
action,  which  fires  sixty  shots  a  minute.  The  nine- 
pounder  shell  with  its  cartridge  is  about  a  yard 
in  length ;  and  this  gives  some  idea  of  the  amount 
of  energy  that  must  be  utilized  tq  handle  such 
shells  at  such  a  rate  of  speed. 

One  can  scarcely  conceive  a  weapon  more  ter- 
rible than  one  that  can  almost  literally  pour  these 
huge  projectiles  upon  an  enemy. 

Once  the  range  is  found  it  would  seem  to  the 
layman  that  they  would  be  absolutely  annihila- 
tive. 

But  there  are  two  vital  defects  in  such  a  show- 
ering of  ammunition — the  shots  cannot  be  well 
aimed,  and  there  is  likely  to  be  too  great  a  corn- 
sumption  of  ammunition,  which,  as  has  been 
pointed  out,  is  the  bane  of  the  artilleryman's  life 
to-day.  It  is  not  improbable,  therefore,  that  the 
ordinary  rapid-fire  gun,  firing  fifteen  or  twenty 
well-aimed  shots  a  minute,  will  remain  a  favorite 
over  this  new  type  of  gun.  And  yet  upon  occasion 
sixty  nine-pound  projectiles  a  minute  might  de- 
cide an  issue,  on  land  or  sea,  if  poured  in  at  the 
right  time,  even  if  not  accurately  aimed. 

And  one  of  the  features  of  the  semi-automatic 
nine-pounder — the  "  semi  "  feature,  indeed — is 
that  it  may  be  used  like  an  ordinary  rapid-fire  gun, 
firing  as  slowly  as  desired. 

[164] 


BREECH-LOADING  CANNON 

GUN   CAEBIAGES 

The  revolution  that  has  taken  place  in  guns 
during  the  last  quarter  of  the  century  could  not 
have  been  possible  had  it  not  been  for  an  equally 
wonderful  and  revolutionary  change  in  gun  car- 
riages. Rapidity  of  fire  had  been  made  possible 
by  the  introduction  of  the  breech-loader,  fixed 
ammunition,  and  percussion  or  electric  fuses,  but 
even  with  these  rapid  fire  could  not  have  been 
produced  without  the  modern  improved  gun  car- 
riages. This  is  true  at  least  with  all  pieces  of 
ordnance  larger  than  the  ordinary  rifle. 

The  great  difficulty  to  be  overcome  in  heavy 
ordnance  is  the  force  of  the  explosion. 

If  the  trunnions  of  a  gun  were  fixed  in  an  ab- 
solutely rigid  and  immovable  socket,  it  is  probable 
that  the  force  of  the  recoil  would  destroy  the  gun 
at  the  first  discharge ;  for,  of  course,  the  backward 
and  natural  pressure  of  the  explosion  of  the  pro- 
pellant  is  just  as  great  as  the  forward  pressure 
which  moves  the  projectile.  With  the  older  muz- 
zle-loading guns  the  force  of  the  recoil  was  ex- 
pended in  the  "  kicking  "  back  of  the  gun,  the 
distance  to  which  it  was  thrown  by  its  discharge 
being  limited  by  the  breech  tackle,  described  in  a 
previous  chapter. 

In  all  cases  of  muzzle-loaders,  however,  this 
recoil  was  turned  to  account  and  utilized  in  the 
reloading  process,  as  in  any  event  the  gun  had  to 
run  in  for  loading. 

One  of  the  great  contrasts  between  ships  using 
[165] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

muzzle-loading  guns  and  those  using  breech- 
loaders is  an  outside  appearance  presented  by 
the  gun  decks  during  the  action. 

In  the  modern  battle  ships  the  guns  are  con- 
stantly protruded  from  the  side  of  the  ship, 
springing  back  a  certain  distance  momentarily  at 
the  instant  of  discharge  and  running  out  again 
to  their  full  length  so  quickly  that  the  ports  or 
openings  in  the  shield  are  kept  constantly  closed 
and  only  partially  exposed  for  an  instant  at  the 
very  moment  of  fire. 

In  contrast  to  this  appearance  presented  by  the' 
bristling  rows  of  gun  barrels  was  the  appearance 
of  such  a  war  vessel  as  Nelson's  Victory  at  the 
moment  before  and  after  discharging  a  broadside. 
A  moment  before  the  discharge  the  side  of  the 
ship  presented  rows  of  black,  gaping  barrels; 
an  instant  later  every  gun  had  disappeared  from 
view,  leaving  a  row  of  port  holes  in  their  place. 
These  port  holes  thus  became  at  once  a  great 
source  of  danger  to  the  gun  crew  from  the  missiles 
of  small  arms  of  the  enemy. 

To  avert  this  danger,  trapdoors  for  closing  the 
ports  were  sometimes  used,  but  these  were  very 
easily  injured  and  were  never  entirely  satisfac- 
tory. 

As  soon  as  the  breech-loading  cannon  came 
into  general  use,  therefore,  efforts  were  made  to 
solve  the  problem  of  the  recoil  so  that  the  energy 
could  be  absorbed  without  throwing  the  gun  to  so 
great  a  distance  to  the  rear.  This  has  been  ac- 
complished by  certain  ingenious  devices,  and  so 

[166] 


BREECH-LOADING  CANNON 

perfected  that  a  gun  when  fired  is  not  only 
checked  in  its  rearward  movement  without  injury 
to  itself  or  its  carriage,  but  is  also  returned  auto- 
matically to  the  original  firing  position. 

The  manner  of  effecting  this  that  would  natur- 
ally first  present  itself  would  be  the  use  of  a 
powerful  spring  which  could  receive  the  recoil 
gradually  and  return  the  gun  to  its  original  posi- 
tion without  moving  the  gun  carriage.  By  a 
moment's  reflection,  however,  it  will  be  seen  that 
such  a  simple  spring  arrangement  would  quickly 
destroy  the  gun  mountings,  as  any  spring  power- 
ful enough  to  check  the  backward  movement  of 
the  piece  without  breaking  it  would  also  return  it 
to  its  original  position  with  a  corresponding  force. 
So  that  the  simple  spring  recoil  check,  except  as 
attached  to  very  small  guns,  can  only  be  employed 
as  auxiliaries  in  governing  the  recoil  and  return- 
ing the  piece. 

A  more  successful  method,  and  one  which,  with 
modifications  and  improvements,  is  now  in  use 
everywhere  on  practically  all  types  of  ordnance, 
is  one  in  which  a  rod  and  piston  fitted  in  the  cylin- 
der containing  a  suitable  elastic  fluid  is  used. 

Such  a  mechanism  as  first  used  consisted  of  a 
simple  piston  made  with  holes  through  which  the 
liquid  could  pass  at  a  certain  rate  of  speed  ac- 
cording to  the  pressure  given  by  the  discharge 
of  the  gun.  But  it  was  soon  found  that  there  were 
certain  objections  to  the  use  of  such  a  simple 
mechanism,  the  force  required  to  force  the  piston 
through  the  liquid  remaining  constantly  the  same 

[167] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

and  thus  interfering  with  the  return  of  the  piston, 
although  the  pressure  from  the  recoil  diminished 
as  the  force  was  absorbed  by  the  fluid  in  the 
cylinder. 

To  overcome  this  defect,  ingenious  valves  of 
various  types  were  introduced,  so  arranged  that 
they  were  closed  automatically  and  gradually  as 
the  pressure  of  the  recoil  diminished. 

They  were  also  made  so  that  the  reverse  move- 
ments of  the  returning  gun  opened  the  valves, 
thus  offering  little  resistance  to  its  return.  A 
great  number  of  modifications  and  improvements 
on  valves  working  on  this  principle  have  been 
made  since  their  invention.  But  the  difficulties 
encountered  have  been  very  practically  overcome 
by  modern  gunmakers,  and  every  nation  now  uses 
hydrostatic  recoil  devices  on  its  guns  whose 
mechanism  is  satisfactory. 

One  of  these  recoil  valves  which  has  been  found 
to  work  satisfactorily  with  heavy  guns  is  that  in 
which  the  closing  of  the  valve  is  effected  by  a 
rotary  movement  of  the  piston  as  it  moves  along 
spiral  grooves  in  the  cylinder  cut  for  this  purpose, 
and  into  which  the  piston  is  fitted.  This  mechan- 
ism, however,  is  relatively  slow,  and  interferes 
with  a  rapid  return  of  such  cannon  as  the  rapid- 
fire  guns.  In  place  of  this,  therefore,  a  somewhat 
similar  device  is  used,  in  which  holes  are  cut  in 
the  side  of  the  piston  so  placed  that  they  run  on 
longitudinal  bars  which  are  made  of  gradually 
increasing  thickness,  so  that  the  holes  in  the  piston 
are  wide  open  at  the  beginning  of  the  backward 

[168] 


BREECH-LOADING  CANNON 

movement  along  the  bore  and  are  gradually  closed 
by  the  backward  movement  of  the  gun.  These 
are  only  two  among  many  types  used  on  modern 
guns,  but  they  serve  as  illustrating  the  principle 
involved  in  all  types. 

In  actual  practice  recoil  valves  may  be  used  as 
a  "  push  "  in  or  "  compression  "  or  as  "  pull 
out  "  or  "  tension  "  valves,  but  the  principle  in- 
volved is  the  same,  and  for  the  sake  of  gaining 
space  or  for  some  other  special  reason  sometimes 
both  types  of  valves  are  used  on  the  same  gun. 

The  force  of  gravity,  in  combination  with 
valves  and  springs,  is  utilized  in  some  gun  car- 
riages for  automatically  returning  the  gun  to  the 
firing  position  after  the  discharge.  In  such  car- 
riages, the  gun  is  made  to  travel  up  an  inclined 
plane  by  the  force  of  the  recoil,  its  own  weight 
rolling  it  into  place  again  when  the  force  of  the 
recoil  is  absorbed. 

An  objection  to  such  a  carriage  dependent  upon 
gravity  for  use  on  shipboard  is  the  fact  that  the 
rolling  of  the  ship  may  return  it  with  too  great 
violence. 

Another  objection  is  the  violence  of  the  down- 
ward blow  upon  the  deck  given  by  the  discharge, 
this  blow  being  increased  in  force  when  the  gun 
is  elevated  for  firing  at  extreme  ranges.  This 
objection,  however,  applies  only  to  guns  on  ship- 
board; and  in  emplacements  such  as  those  used 
for  seacoast  defense  guns  this  type  of  carriage 
is  entirely  satisfactory. 

It  must  not  be  understood,  however,  that  the  re- 
[169] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

coil  mechanism  of  any  modern  gun  is  as  simple  as 
might  be  inferred  from  this  description  of  the 
principles  involved.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  these 
devices  are  most  complicated.  The  general  prin- 
ciples, however,  remain  practically  the  same  with 
all  guns  on  stationary  carriages,  whether  on  ship- 
board or  on  land,  even  the  "  disappearing  "  car- 
riages being  simply  the  application  of  this  prin- 
ciple specially  adapted. 

This  disappearing  carriage,  as  its  name  implies, 
is  one  by  which  the  gun  is  caused  to  disappear 
after  its  discharge,  the  disappearance  being  pro- 
duced by  the  energy  of  the  recoil.  Such  guns  first 
made  their  appearance  about  1888,  and  gained 
immediate  popularity.  The  mountings  of  such  a 
gun  are  so  arranged  that,  when  in  position  for 
firing,  the  gun  is  balanced  upon  a  metal  frame, 
pivoted  so  that  the  recoil  of  the  gun  throws  it 
backward  and  downward  several  feet  below  the 
surface  of  the  surrounding  fortification. 

The  emplacement  of  such  a  carriage  is  literally 
a  "  hole  in  the  ground,"  the  loading,  aiming,  and 
training  of  the  gun  being  performed  while  the 
piece  is  lying  on  its  carriage  below  the  level  of 
the  surrounding  ground. 

Aiming  under  such  circumstances  may  be  done 
by  signals  of  the  position  finders,  indicating  the 
position  of  the  target ;  but  as  all  harbors  and  sur- 
rounding land  surfaces  protected  by  batteries  of 
such  guns  are  charted,  this  aiming  can  be  done 
with  mathematical  accuracy.  Once  the  gun  is 
sighted,  which  is  done  during  the  loading  process, 

[170] 


BREECH-LOADING  CANNON 

it  can  be  raised  into  firing  position  and  discharged 
at  once,  so  that  at  most  only  the  muzzle  can  be 
seen  by  an  enemy,  and  this  only  for  a  moment. 

The  loading  process  is  simplified  and  facili- 
tated by  the  fact  that  the  recoil  throws  the  piece 
directly  back  into  position  for  loading. 

The  rate  of  fire  from  the  modern  twelve-inch 
disappearing  gun  is  about  ten  rounds  in  seventeen 
minutes.  During  the  entire  process  only  the  head 
of  the  man  who  aims  the  gun  and  the  momentary 
protrusion  of  the  gun's  muzzle  are  seen.  With 
smokeless  powder  the  chances  of  detection  of  the 
location  of  these  batteries  by  the  enemy  in  an  ac- 
tion is  very  remote;  and  from  the  fact  that  such 
guns  are  usually  fired  with  the  barrel  raised  at 
an  angle,  it  is  possible  to  conceal  even  the  mo- 
mentarily protruded  muzzle  by  shrubbery  planted 
about  the  edges  of  the  emplacement  without  inter- 
fering at  all  with  the  fire  of  the  piece. 

The  only  sure  way  of  detecting  the  exact  loca- 
tion of  such  batteries  would  be  from  balloons  or 
aeroplanes. 

The  probability  of  deceiving  an  enemy  and  di- 
verting his  fire  in  a  false  direction  is  greatly  in- 
creased with  such  batteries  of  disappearing  guns. 

Examples  of  this  sort  of  trickery  are  said  to 
have  been  practiced  on  several  occasions  by  the 
Boers  in  South  Africa  with  rifles  using  smoky 
powder  and  those  using  smokeless  ammunition. 

In  several  battles  the  Boers  are  said  to  have 
stationed  a  line  of  men  within  sure  rifle  range  of 
the  British,  concealed  in  the  undergrowth,  these 

[171] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

men  being  armed  with  smokeless  powder  rifles. 
On  adjacent  Mils  to  the  rear  of  this  line,  and  at 
long  rifle  range,  another  line  of  men  were  sta- 
tioned, armed  with  smoky  powder  weapons.  The 
smoke  from  the  discharges  of  the  rifles  of  the 
men  in  the  rear  line  would  divert  the  attention 
and  draw  the  fire  of  the  advancing  British  line, 
which  conld  be  cut  to  pieces  by  the  fire  from  the 
smokeless  weapons  of  the  front  line. 

Similarly  with  batteries  firing  smoky  powder, 
carefully  protected  by  shell-proof  fortifications, 
and  located  some  distance  from  the  disappearing 
guns,  the  enemy's  attention  could  be  diverted 
from  the  real  source  of  the  shell  fire  hurled 
against  him.  At  close  range  the  deception  would 
soon  be  discovered  as  the  so-called  smokeless 
powder  is  not  absolutely  so;  but  as  such  engage- 
ments would  usually  be  carried  on  at  long  range, 
at  least  for  some  time,  it  might  happen  that  the 
enemy's  ships  might  be  beaten  off  or  destroyed 
without  ever  discovering  the  source  of  their  de- 
struction. 

Of  course  the  use  of  disappearing  carriages  is 
confined  mostly  to  the  guns  of  heavier  natures, 
but  in  the  United  States  even  such  relatively  small 
guns  as  the  six-inch  quick-firers  are  sometimes 
mounted  on  disappearing  carriages.  For  the 
smaller  ones  the  same  kind  of  protection  is  given 
as  to  guns  on  shipboard,  that  is  by  turrets,  bar- 
bettes, or  shields,  with  such  additional  protection 
as  mounds  of  earth.  Some  of  these  turrets  are 
made  as  "  disappearing  turrets, "  being  so  made 

[172] 


BREECH-LOADING  CANNON 

that  the  guns  can  be  run  in  and  the  top  of  the 
turret  closed  down  when  the  fire  of  the  enemy  be- 
comes too  hot. 


FIELD  ARTILLERY 

The  field  artillerist  is  presented  with  difficulties 
in  overcoming  the  recoil  of  his  gun  quite  different 
from  those  of  the  naval  or  coast-defense  gunner. 

His  problem  is  one  concerned  with  a  weapon  that 
must  be  quickly  convertible  from  a  mobile  to  a 
stationary  one,  and  vice  versa.  With  the  rela- 
tively heavy  pieces,  such  as  siege  guns,  in  using 
which  the  time  element  does  not  matter  so  largely, 
the  problem  is  perhaps  less  difficult  than  with 
the  field  pieces  proper,  as  such  guns  may  be  dis- 
mounted and  converted  into  stationary  guns ;  and 
the  carriages  of  such  guns  can  be  made  relatively 
heavier  than  those  of  the  ordinary  field  pieces. 

Generally  speaking,  however,  until  very  re- 
cently, the  field  gun  with  its  carriage  has  been 
limited  to  a  weight  that  can  be  drawn  readily  by 
six  horses,  and  this  limitation  made  the  enor- 
mously heavy  steel  forgings  such  as  are  used  by 
stationary  guns  out  of  the  question.  But  the  use 
of  automobiles  has  done  away  with  these  restric- 
tions, as  we  shall  see  when  the  developments  of 
the  great  war  of  1914  are  under  consideration  in 
a  later  chapter. 

In  the  older  field  cannon  of  forty  years  ago, 
and  for  two  centuries  preceding,  no  attempt  was 
made  to  overcome  the  energy  of  the  recoil,  the 

[173] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

backward  spring  of  the  piece  taking  up  this 
energy.  After  each  discharge,  therefore,  the 
cannon  had  to  be  run  up  by  hand  into  firing  posi- 
tion. This  was  slow  and  laborious  work,  as  was 
also  the  loading  process. 

Quite  a  common  practice  was  to  fire  such  guns 
from  the  brow  of  a  hill,  the  recoil  throwing  the 
gun  back  out  of  range  of  the  enemy's  guns  dur- 
ing the  reloading. 

With  the  introduction  of  breech-loading  field 
pieces,  however,  methods  were  attempted  to  con- 
trol this  recoil  of  the  gun,  as  so  much  time  was 
lost  by  it,  and  the  methods  used  on  stationary 
guns  were  tried.  But  as  a  rule  such  mechanisms 
were  found  too  heavy  for  practical  application. 
Various  forms  of  brakes  were  then  tried,  and 
while  these  have  been  made  to  do  some  good 
service  in  actual  practice  they  are  not  perfected 
and  are  being  constantly  experimented  with  and 
improved. 

A  very  common  method  of  controlling  the  re- 
coil is  by  means  of  a  "  plow  "  attached  to  the 
axle,  a  "  spade  "  attached  to  the  trail,  in  com- 
bination with  a  brake  applied  to  the  wheels. 

The  plow,  when  attached  to  the  axle  or  some 
other  part  of  the  carriage,  reaches  downward  far 
enough  to  be  thrust  into  the  earth  at  an  acute 
angle  backward.  This  plow  is  not  merely  a  rod 
of  iron  but  is  frequently  of  complicated  structure, 
made  as  a  cylinder,  piston,  and  piston  rod,  ar- 
ranged to  absorb  the  energy  of  the  recoil  in  some- 
thing the  same  manner  as  the  recoil  cylinders  of 

[174] 


BREECH-LOADING  CANNON 

stationary  guns.  Another  method  of  using  the 
plow  is  by  means  of  a  pull-out  piston  and  cylinder 
placed  on  the  trail  of  the  gun,  and  attached  to  the 
plow  by  a  cable,  in  such  a  manner  that  the  energy 
of  the  recoil  is  transmitted  from  the  plow  to  the 
mechanism  of  the  cylinder. 

The  spade  is  made  in  the  form  of  a  fin-shaped 
piece  of  metal  placed  on  the  end  of  the  trail  com- 
ing in  contact  with  the  ground,  and  arranged  so 
that  it  digs  its  way  into  the  dirt  and  holds  the  gun 
firmly  in  place.  When  this  is  used,  recoil  cylin- 
ders and  springs  are  attached  to  the  gun  for  ab- 
sorbing the  recoil,  just  as  in  the  case  of  stationary 
guns.  And  indeed  this  spade  acts  so  well  that  the 
mobile  gun  carriage  becomes  practically  a  fixed 
piece  so  long  as  the  spade  is  in  place. 

The  brake,  when  used  with  the  plow  or  spade,  is 
simply  some  apparatus  for  holding  the  wheels 
stationary,  to  help  in  resisting  the  recoil  of  the 
gun.  These  brakes  are  of  various  patterns,  all 
of  them  fairly  satisfactory,  but  none  as  yet  that 
are  not  open  to  certain  objections.  Most  of  the 
European  countries  are  struggling  constantly  to 
perfect  this  essential  part  of  their  cannons,  and 
the  greatest  secrecy  is  maintained  in  these  experi- 
ments. 

It  may  be  recalled  that  the  unfortunate  Dreyfus 
affair  in  France  a  few  years  ago  grew  out  of  the 
supposed  divulgence  of  the  secret  of  one  of  these 
military  brakes. 

The  object  of  all  these  appliances  is  to  increase 
the  r.apidity  of  fire  of  the  guns,  the  other  qualities 

[175] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

not  being  affected  by  them.  This  is  significant  as 
showing  the  trend  of  ideas  in  field  artillery  at  the 
present  time.  The  modern  field  gun  must  be  mo- 
bile and  a  quick-firer,  even  at  the  expense  of  some 
other  qualities  that  were  formerly  supposed  to  be 
quite  as  essential. 

The  United  States,  although  probably  not  as 
deeply  interested  in  the  matter  of  a  perfected  field 
gun  as  some  of  the  European  nations,  is  neverthe- 
less equipped  with  a  very  effective  weapon.  Its 
carriage  is  of  the  brake  and  spade  type,  and  the 
following  is  a  brief  description  of  the  gun  itself 
by  Captain  George  W.  Burr,  of  the  Ordnance 
Department : 

"  The  gun  is  a  built-up  nickel-steel  rifle  con- 
sisting of  a  tube,  jacket,  locking  hoop,  and  clip. 
On  the  outside  of  the  piece,  extending  the  whole 
length  of  the  jacket,  locking  hoop,  and  clip,  are 
formed  two  recoil  clips,  which  fit  over  and  secure 
the  piece  to  the  guide  rails  of  the  cradle. 

"  The  breech  mechanism  is  of  the  interrupted 
screw  type.  The  breech  is  opened  or  closed  by  a 
single  horizontal  motion  of  the  operating  lever 
which  is  pivoted  on  the  carrier  immediately  under 
the  block.  The  gun  may  be  fired  by  a  lanyard  at- 
tached to  the  sear  catch  on  the  right  side  of  the 
cradle.  In  case  of  misfire  the  firing  pin  can  be 
cocked  without  opening  the  breech. 

"  The  breech  mechanism  has  been  exhaustively 
tested  and  has  been  found  decidedly  superior  to 
other  systems  of  breech  closure.  Among  its  ad- 
vantages may  be  enumerated:  rapidity  of  fire; 

[176] 


BREECH-LOADING  CANNON 

great  power  of  extraction  and  ejection  and  also 
of  rotation ;  ring  form  of  extractor ;  ease  of  load- 
ing, in  that  the  cartridge  does  not  have  to  be 
pushed  home  by  hand;  protection  of  parts  from 
dust  or  injury ;  simplicity  of  parts,  few  in  number, 
and  easily  assembled  or  dismounted  without  tools ; 
safety  insured  by  eccentric  location  of  firing  pin, 
as  well  as  by  provision  making  impossible  the  re- 
lease of  the  sear  before  the  gun  is  fully  closed. 

i '  The  weight  of  the  piece,  with  breech  mechan- 
ism complete,  is  832  pounds.  The  diameter  of  the 
bore  is  three  inches ;  total  length  of  bore,  twenty- 
eight  calibers;  total  length  of  piece,  87.8  inches. 
Weight  of  the  projectile,  fifteen  pounds.  The 
range  of  the  piece  at  15°  elevation  is  6250  yards. 
By  sinking  the  trail  of  the  carriage  in  the  ground 
a  greater  elevation  can  be  obtained  with  corre- 
spondingly greater  range." 


[177] 


vrn 

GUN  SIGHTS  AND  EANGE  FINDEES 

PEEHAPS  no  single  feature  of  firearms  was 
perfected  so  early  and  has  remained  so  lit- 
tle changed,  at  least  in  principle  if  not  also 
in  actual  methods  of  applying  it,  as  the  open  gun 
sight. 

Modifications  and  additional  mechanisms  have 
been  added  as  supplementary  adjuvants,  such  as 
wind  gauges,  spirit  levels,  gauges  for  making  al- 
lowance for  a  ship's  movement,  etc.,  but  the  gen- 
eral principle — that  of  two  points  corresponding 
with  the  axis  of  the  bore  of  the  gun  brought  into 
line  with  the  target — has  remained  unchanged  for 
at  least  three  centuries. 

A  most  natural  type  of  sight  would  be  one 
made  of  a  small  tube  placed  parallel  with  the  axis 
of  the  barrel.  If  the  bore  of  this  tube  were  ex- 
tremely small  it  is  obvious  that  accurate  aim 
might  be  taken  by  looking  through  the  tube  and 
bringing  the  target  into  the  field  of  vision.  Such 
a  sight  could  be  used,  and  has  been  used,  with 
good  results  in  target  practice,  but  it  has  many 
disadvantages.  The  field  of  vision  is  very  limited 
on  account  of  the  necessarily  small  caliber,  and 
good  shooting,  in  anything  but  target  practice  at 
least,  is  dependent  upon  clear  vision  about  the 

[178] 


GUN  SIGHTS  AND  RANGE  FINDERS 

sights,  as  well  as  along  the  sights  themselves. 
Such  simple  tubular  sights,  therefore,  are  not 
used;  but  the  principle  involved  is  utilized  in  two 
of  the  three  popular  forms  of  sights  in  common 
use,  the  telescope  and  the  "  peep  "  sight. 

The  same  effect  could  be  obtained  by  two  up- 
rights, with  a  knob  at  the  top,  one  located  near 
the  base  of  the  gun  and  one  near  the  muzzle,  so 
placed  that  a  straight  line  drawn  between  the 
two  knobs  corresponds  with  the  axis  of  the  bore 
of  the  gun.  But  in  attempting  to  use  such  a 
sight  a  difficulty  would  be  at  once  apparent.  The 
knob  near  the  breech,  being  much  nearer  the  eye, 
would  appear  so  large  that  the  sight  on  the  muz- 
zle would  be  hidden.  An  improvement  upon  this 
would  be  to  leave  this  knob  for  a  front  sight,  but 
for  a  rear  sight  use  some  aperture,  slot,  or  notch, 
made  at  a  certain  height  so  that  the  point  of  the 
aperture  or  notch  was  exactly  on  a  level  with  the 
knob  of  the  front  sight. 

To  take  exact  aim  with  this  sight  it  would  only 
be  necessary  to  hold  the  weapon  so  that  the  point 
of  the  notch,  the  ball  on  the  tip  of  the  foresight, 
and  the  target  were  in  line. 

This  style  of  sight,  the  "  open,"  "  crotch," 
"  notch,"  or  "  block  "  sight,  with  various  modi- 
fications, is  the  one  still  in  use  on  hunting  and 
military  rifles  for  ordinary  shooting. 

It  is  obvious  that  the  farther  apart  these  two 
sights  are  placed  on  the  gun  barrel,  the  less  dan- 
ger there  will  be  of  errors  in  shooting,  or  rather 
the  smaller  will  be  the  deflection  of  the  bullet  if 

[179] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

the  sights  are  not  absolutely  in  line  with  the  tar- 
get. On  the  other  hand,  a  sight  of  this  kind 
placed  too  close  to  the  eye  appears  so  large  that 
the  contour  of  the  point  of  the  notch  is  lost  en- 
tirely. A  compromise  is  made,  therefore,  by  plac- 
ing the  rear  sight  just  far  enough  from  the  eye 
so  that  the  notch  will  be  clearly  defined  and  not 
too  large. 

When  distant  objects  are  to  be  fired  at,  neces- 
sitating the  holding  of  the  gun  at  an  angle,  it  is 
evident  that  this  sight  could  no  longer  be  used 
in  the  same  way.  It  is  necessary,  therefore,  to 
elevate  the  rear  sight  to  a  height  so  that  when 
the  gun  is  held  at  the  necessary  angle  the  knob 
of  the  front  sight  and  the  point  of  the  notch  in 
the  rear  sight  are  in  a  straight  line. 

This  is  the  principle  of  the  ordinary  elevating 
sights,  and  applies  to  all  kinds  of  sights,  whether 
open,  telescope,  or  peep,  on  small  arms  as  well  as 
cannon. 

Of  course,  in  the  practical  application  of  sights 
to  guns,  many  things  have  to  be  considered;  and 
this  is  particularly  true  as  regards  rifled  cannon. 
Rifling  causes  the  projectile  to  be  deflected 
slightly  in  the  horizontal  plane,  left-hand  rifling 
causing  this  ' l  drift  ' '  always  to  the  right,  and  vice 
versa — on  the  principle  of  the  ball  pitcher's 
"  curved  ball."  But  this  can  be  corrected  ap- 
proximately in  practice  by  testing  the  gun,  and 
setting  the  rear  sights  at  the  necessary  angle. 
Wind  gauges  must  also  be  used,  gauges  for  mak- 
ing allowance  for  the  ship's  motion,  and  spirit 

[180] 


GUN  SIGHTS  AND  RANGE  FINDERS 

levels;  but  all  these  are  necessary  details  of 
1 '  making  ready  ' '  the  sight.  The  marksman  him- 
self has  nothing  to  do  with  these  preliminaries. 
At  the  moment  of  actual  firing  he  uses  only  the 
old  principle  of  bringing  the  target  and  the  front 
and  rear  sight  in  a  line  with  his  eye. 

Every  country  has  its  own  particular  pattern 
of  sight  which  it  considers  best  suited  to  the  use 
of  its  gunners,  but  the  principle  of  all  these  is 
necessarily  the  same. 

For  shooting  at  ordinary  ranges  with  cannon 
the  British  navy  uses  a  front  sight  which  consists 
of  a  small  ball,  or  bead,  placed  on  an  upright. 
The  rear  sight  consists  of  a  fine  wire  stretched 
horizontally  between  two  uprights,  which  has  the 
appearance  of  the  letter  H.  To  aim  with  this 
sight  the  bead  of  the  front  sight  is  brought  into 
line  with  the  eye  so  that  it  appears  to  rest  on  the 
center  of  the  horizontal  wire — a  dot  on  the  cross- 
bar of  the  H,  as  it  were.  The  gunner  must  guess 
at  the  exact  point  of  the  center  of  the  wire,  but 
for  practical  purposes  this  is  not  difficult,  and 
the  advantage  of  the  clear  view  and  wide  field  of 
vision  possible  with  such  a  sight  makes  it  an  ex- 
cellent one  in  actual  use. 

The  sight  used  by  the  American  gunners  is  very 
much  the  same  as  this  one,  differing  chiefly  in 
various  details  of  construction. 

Such  a  sight,  of  course,  is  worthless  at  night, 
for  even  when  there  is  sufficient  light  as  that  such 
an  object  as  a  ship  on  the  water  can  be  distin- 
guished, the  sights  on  the  guns  cannot  be  seen 

[181] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

clearly.  To  overcome  this  difficulty  certain  types 
of  night  sights  are  used. 

It  is  evident  that  a  strong  light  thrown  upon 
the  gun  barrel,  if  strong  enough  to  make  the  sights 
plainly  discernible,  would  obscure  the  target,  un- 
less it  were  a  brilliantly  lighted  one.  It  has  been 
found  by  experiments,  however,  that  if  the  sights 
are  dimly  illuminated  they  may  be  seen  without 
obstructing  the  view  of  the  target.  To  accom- 
plish this,  small  electric  lights  are  placed  at  the 
fore  and  rear  sight  so  concealed  that  only  a  re- 
flection from  them  is  made  upon  the  portion  of 
the  sight  to  be  used. 

In  order  that  the  gunner  may  distinguish  be- 
tween the  front  sight  and  the  rear  sight  these  are 
frequently  lighted  with  different  colors,  the  front 
sight  being  the  ordinary  yellow  light  and  the  rear 
sight  being  some  dim  color,  such  as  red. 

With  such  sights  the  ordinary  shape  of  the  day- 
light sight  is  not  practical  and  various  forms  and 
modifications  have  been  introduced  to  replace 
them.  A  very  simple  form  is  one  in  which  the 
sight  of  the  gun  when  brought  into  proper  align- 
ment presents  three  bands  of  light,  a  yellow  one 
with  a  red  one  running  parallel  with  it  on  either 
side.  When  the  sights  are  so  placed,  and  the  tar- 
get appears  as  bisecting  these  three  bands  of  light, 
the  gunner  knows  that  his  piece  is  aimed  with 
absolute  accuracy. 

This  device  of  the  three  bands  of  light  is  only 
one  of  the  many  forms  in  use,  and  simply  replaces 
the  daylight  sights  for  laying  the  piece.  The 

[182] 


GUN  SIGHTS  AND  RANGE  FINDERS 

range,  speed  of  the  vessel,  or  the  movement  of  the 
target  are  determined  and  made  allowance  for  by 
the  same  mechanisms  as  used  in  daylight,  the 
scales  and  indicators  being  lighted  by  electric 
lamps  arranged  for  the  purpose. 

The  sights  which  we  have  been  describing  are 
those  used  for  firing  at  ordinary  distances. 

At  long  ranges,  however,  telescopic  sights  are 
used.  Such  sights  utilizing  the  principle  of  the 
telescope  for  making  a  target  appear  nearer  and 
larger,  are  made  of  various  patterns,  the  most 
common  form  being  that  of  a  long  tube  so  ar- 
ranged that  two  fine  wires  crossing  the  tube  at 
right  angles  give  the  correct  aim  when  the  point 
of  intersection  of  the  two  wires  appears  to  cover 
the  target.  This  is  a  modification  of  the  device 
used  by  the  astronomer  in  star-gazing. 

Another  form  of  sight  is  what  is  known  as  the 
"  peep  "  sight.  In  such  sights  the  front  sight  is 
in  the  form  of  the  ordinary  knob  or  bead  sup- 
ported on  an  upright  in  practically  the  same  man- 
ner as  in  the  case  of  the  open  sight.  The  rear 
sight,  however,  which  is  placed  in  a  position  close 
to  the  eye  of  the  gunner,  consists  of  a  plate  or 
ring  of  metal  with  a  pin-hole  opening  in  the  center. 
This  pin  hole  is  so  placed  that  a  straight  line 
drawn  from  the  center  to  the  bead  of  the  fore 
sight  corresponds  to  the  axis  of  the  bore  of  the 
gun. 

It  is  obvious,  therefore,  that  in  taking  aim  with 
such  a  sight  the  gunner  has  but  to  look  through 
the  pin  hole  in  the  rear  sight  and  bring  the  bead 

[183] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

of  the  front  sight  into  a  position  where  it  appears 
to  rest  against  the  target. 

This  would  seem  to  be  an  almost  ideal  form 
of  sight,  as  there  could  seemingly  be  very  little 
variation  in  the  position  of  the  rear  sight  because 
the  vision  of  the  gunner  is  confined  to  the  diameter 
of  the  pin  hole;  and  in  actual  practice  this  is  an 
extremely  accurate  form  of  sight. 

To  anyone  who  has  ever  tried  the  experiment  of 
looking  through  a  pin  hole,  however,  it  will  be 
recalled  that  even  the  smallest  pin  hole  when 
brought  close  to  the  eye  appears  to  be  greatly  en- 
larged, the  pin  hole  seeming  to  form  a  circle  per- 
haps several  feet  in  diameter.  If  now  the  bead 
of  the  front  sight,  which  appears  as  a  small  speck 
inclosed  by  a  large  circle,  is  brought  to  a  point 
as  near  as  can  be  estimated  to  the  center  of  the 
large  ring  made  by  the  rear  sight,  the  aim  will  be 
very  accurate.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  gunner, 
in  taking  aim,  allows  the  bead  of  the  front  sight 
to  appear  at  one  side  in  the  circle  instead  of  the 
center,  a  deflection  of  the  bullet  will  take  place,  the 
amount  of  the  deflection  corresponding  to  the  dis- 
tance between  the  center  of  the  pin  hole  or  sight 
and  the  point  away  from  the  center  at  which  the 
bead  appears  to  rest  at  the  moment  of  firing. 

This  distance  is,  of  course,  infinitesimal,  and 
at  short  ranges  will  not  be  enough  to  prevent  ex- 
cellent marksmanship;  at  increased  ranges,  how- 
ever, even  these  slight  deviations  through  the  cen- 
tral line  may  cause  the  ball  to  go  wide  of  the 
mark. 

[184] 


GUN  SIGHTS  AND  RANGE  FINDERS 

There  are  two  vital  objections  to  the  peep  sight. 
One  of  these  is  the  fact  that  as  the  rear  sight  is 
necessarily  placed  close  to  the  eye,  injury  to  that 
organ  may  occur  as  an  effect  of  the  recoil  of  the 
gun.  If  this  were  the  only  defect  it  could  probably 
be  overcome ;  but  an  equally  important  objection, 
and  one  that  cannot  be  easily  remedied,  is  the  fact 
that  such  sights  are  not  adapted  to  rapid  firing 
because  with  the  peep  hole  sufficiently  small  for 
accurate  shooting  it  is  impossible  to  adjust  the 
eye  quickly  to  the  aperture.  For  sporting  pur- 
poses and  target  shooting,  however,  this  sight  is 
a  favorite  with  many  marksmen. 

One  of  the  modern  improvements  in  sights  for 
cannon  is  the  arrangement  of  the  sight  on  the  gun 
carriage  which  absorbs  the  recoil,  instead  of  on 
the  gun  barrel  itself. 

As  the  sights  so  placed  are  not  affected  by  the 
recoil  of  the  gun,  the  man  who  is  doing  the  sight- 
ing need  not  remove  his  eye  from  the  target  at 
the  moment  of  firing — a  thing  of  great  practical 
advantage  in  using  rapid-fire  guns.  There  is  also 
much  less  liability  to  injury  to  the  sight  itself 
when  so  placed,  and  in  all  modern  guns  larger 
than  the  rifle  and  the  machine  gun  the  sights  are 
now  placed  on  the  carriage  instead  of  the  barrel. 

RECENT  TYPES   OF   GUN   SIGHTS 


As  the  long-ranged  rifle  cannon  came  into  gen- 
eral use,  and  long-distance  shooting  gradually  re- 
placed the  older  form,  it  was  evident  that  the  or- 

[185] 


MODERN  WARFAHE 

dinary  type  of  open  sight  must  be  improved  upon. 
The  possibilities  of  the  human  eye  fell  far  short 
of  the  possible  ranges  of  the  new  guns,  and 
naturally  some  aid  must  be  given  them  if  the  de- 
fect was  to  be  remedied.  The  natural  solution 
of  the  problem  was,  of  course,  the  telescopic  sight ; 
but  there  were  many  who  opposed  this  sight,  and 
still  argued  in  favor  of  some  form  of  plain  sight. 

In  rebuttal,  the  advocates  of  the  telescope  sight 
pointed  out  that  aiming  with  the  ordinary  open 
sight,  where  three  objects  at  different  distances 
from  the  eye  had  to  be  brought  into  alignment, 
was  a  physiological  impossibility. 

The  German  expert,  Von  Kodar,  in  speaking  of 
this,  makes  the  following  statement:  "  There  is 
no  doubt  that  this  method  of  aiming  (i.e.,  with 
open  sights)  would  be  very  perfect,  if  the  quali- 
ties of  our  eye  would  not  make  it  impossible  to 
align  simultaneously  three  points  situated  at  dif- 
ferent distances.  Everybody  knows  that  in  look- 
ing at  a  distant  object  our  eye  automatically  ac- 
commodates itself  to  the  long  distance,  and  then 
objects  nearer  us  are  only  dimly  visible,  and  vice 
versa.  Therefore,  it  is  quite  out  of  question  for 
the  eye  to  perceive  simultaneously  and  distinctly 
the  rear  sight,  quite  near  the  eye,  the  front  sight 
a  small  distance  off,  and  the  far-away  target." 

It  is  true  that  in  actual  target  practice  the  mar- 
velously  accurate  shooting  of  good  marksmen 
seems  to  discredit  the  applicability  of  this  theory; 
but  although  the  marksman  learns  to  overcome 
the  difficulty,  he  is  constantly  confronted  with  it. 

[186] 


GUN  SIGHTS  AND  RANGE  FINDERS 

For  this  reason  there  have  been  numberless  at- 
tempts to  produce  a  sight  that  overcame  this 
initial  defect,  and  at  the  same  time  had  no  more 
serious  ones.  And  there  are  now  several  of  these, 
both  plain  and  telescopic,  that  are  great  improve- 
ments over  the  older  types  for  long-distance 
shooting. 

Some  of  these  do  away  with  the  old  three-object 
alignment  principle  entirely,  the  "  Grubb  "  sight 
being  a  particularly  good  example  of  this. 

In  this  sight,  by  means  of  a  simple  optical  con- 
trivance, a  "  ghost  image  "  of  a  cross  (+)  is 
made  to  appear  as  if  projected  upon  the  object 
aimed  at.  In  aiming  with  this  sight  it  is  only 
necessary  to  point  the  weapon  so  that  the  cross 
shall  appear  superimposed  on  the  target.  It  is  a 
small  and  compact  little  device,  which  may  be  at- 
tached to  the  ordinary  rifle,  as  well  as  to  the  larg- 
est cannon,  without  interfering  with  the  ordinary 
sights.  For  cannon  it  may  be  connected  electric- 
ally so  that  an  illuminated  cross  is  used  for  night 
shooting. 

It  is  made  in  the  form  of  a  short  metallic  tube, 
the  rear  end  of  which  is  closed  by  a  window  of 
parallel  plate  glass,  having  the  lower  portion  sil- 
vered, while  the  upper  is  left  transparent.  The 
front  end  is  closed  by  a  piece  of  glass  having  a 
convex  curve  on  the  outside  and  a  concave  curve 
on  the  inside.  The  concave  surface  is  coated  with 
a  semi-transparent  and  highly  reflective  film,  and 
is  slightly  tilted.  At  the  top  is  a  projection  in 
which  is  a  diaphragm,  usually  of  glass  covered 

[187] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

with  an  opaque  substance.  On  this  is  cut  the 
cross  or  any  other  design,  if  preferred,  which  is 
to  be  projected  on  the  distant  object. 

The  following  details  are  given  by  Mr.  H.  C. 
Sheridan : 

"  The  rays  which  enter  the  eye  to  form  the 
image  of  the  cross  diverge  from  the  cross  (which 
may  be  considered  as  a  luminous  object)  and  are 
reflected  (still  diverging)  from  the  silvered  por- 
tion of  the  back  window  on  the  concave  surface 
of  the  front  window,  which  is  coated  as  described 
with  the  reflected  film  referred  to  above,  and 
thence  through  the  upper  part  of  the  back  window 
to  the  observer's  eye.  The  inside  surface  of  the 
front  window  is  of  such  a  concavity  that  it  paral- 
lelizes the  formerly  divergent  rays,  and  causes 
them  to  enter  the  eye  as  parallel  rays,  or  in  effect, 
as  if  they  had  emanated  from  a  large  cross  on  the 
distant  object  itself  instead  of  from  a  small  cross 
close  to  the  observer's  eye,  consequently  there  is 
no  l  parallax,'  a  fact  easily  tested  by  anyone  by 
moving  the  eye  backward  or  forward,  or  up  or 
down,  on  looking  through  the  sight;  such  move- 
ment will  be  found  to  produce  no  effect  in  the 
coincidence  between,  or  superposition  of,  the  cross 
and  the  object;  in  fact,  to  quote  an  article  in 
Engineering,  l  it  is  like  a  fore  sight  carried  on 
the  end  of  a  pole  attached  to  the  barrel.  Evidently, 
if  the  barrel  could  be  so  far  extended  that  the 
marksman  could  place  his  fore  sight  on  the  chest 
of  his  enemy  there  would  be  no  need  of  a  back 
sight  at  all,  and  that  is  exactly  what  is  done  by 

[188] 


GUN  SIGHTS  AND  RANGE  FINDERS 

this  sight.'  The  fixity  of  the  eye  of  the  observer 
not  being  necessary  there  is  no  necessity  for  a 
back  sight — a  very  important  advantage  in  itself, 
more  particularly  when  firing  in  a  constrained  po- 
sition, as  is  often  necessary  in  warfare." 

As  will  be  seen  from  this  description,  this  sight 
is  not  essentially  a  telescopic  one.  But  there  is 
no  difficulty  in  adding  a  telescopic  attachment  to 
it,  and  using  it  in  the  same  manner  as  described 
above.  As  the  little  brass  tube  occupies  very  little 
space  it  can  be  attached  to  the  ordinary  military 
rifle,  and  used  for  long-range  shooting  and  sharp- 
shooting. 

But  for  ordinary  rough-and-ready  firing  it  is 
probable  that  some  sight  more  nearly  like  the 
older  form  of  open  sight  will  remain  the  favorite, 
both  with  hunter  and  soldier. 

RANGE   FINDERS 

As  implied  by  the  name,  the  range  finder  is  the 
instrument  used  by  the  gunner  for  determining 
the  distance  of  the  target. 

At  the  present  time  nearly  all  range  finders  of 
any  practical  value  may  be  described  as  instru- 
ments that  "  automatically  solve  the  triangle." 
For  the  action  of  practically  all  of  them  is  based 
upon  the  geometrical  fact  that  if  two  angles  and 
the  length  of  one  side  of  a  triangle  are  known,  it 
is  possible  to  determine  the  length  of  the  other 
two  sides.  It  is  true  that  several  other  types  of 
instruments  have  been  found  to  be  more  or  less 

[189] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

practical,  some  of  these  being  made  on  the  prin- 
ciple of  the  camera  obscura  or  the  stereoscope,  but 
as  yet  these  instruments  have  not  been  entirely 
successful. 

Even  before  the  days  of  modern  long-range 
weapons,  several  different  kinds  of  range  finders 
were  in  use.  Perhaps  the  simplest  of  these  was 
what  was  called  the  "  acoustic  "  range  finder,  the 
use  of  which,  as  the  name  implies,  depended  upon 
the  sense  of  hearing  and  the  knowledge  of  how 
fast  sound  travels.  To  use  this  instrument  the 
operator  watched  the  flash,  or  the  puff  of  smoke 
from  the  enemy's  guns,  and  timed  the  interval 
that  elapsed  between  the  flash  and  the  sound  of 
the  report. 

This  could  be  done  roughly  by  timing  with  an 
ordinary  watch,  but  a  more  accurate  measure- 
ment could  be  made  with  a  specially  devised  in- 
strument. 

This  consisted  of  an  upright  tube  filled  with 
fluid,  so  arranged  that  it  would  fall  in  the  tube  at 
a  known  rate  of  speed  when  a  certain  button  was 
pressed,  stopping  when  this  was  released.  This 
tube  was  marked  off  into  a  scale  which  corre- 
sponded to  the  distance  traveled  by  sound  waves. 
To  get  the  range  of  an  enemy  the  operator  simply 
watched  until  he  saw  the  flash  of  the  enemy's 
gun,  pressing  the  button  instantly,  which  allowed 
the  fluid  to  descend  in  the  tube  until  the  report 
was  heard,  when  the  button  was  released. 

The  point  marked  on  the  scale  where  the  fluid 
stopped  would  give  the  approximate  range  in 

[190] 


GUN  SIGHTS  AND  RANGE  FINDERS 

yards;  indeed,  under  favorable  conditions,  the 
exact  range  could  be  determined. 

But  the  great  difficulty  in  using  this  instrument 
lay  in  the  fact  that  conditions  were  seldom  ideal : 
were,  in  fact,  usually  such  that  it  could  not  be 
used  at  all.  For  example,  it  could  only  be  used 
in  cases  where  the  enemy  was  allowed  to  open  fire 
first ;  for  of  course,  once  the  din  of  battle  was  on, 
the  instrument  was  useless.  This  defect  in  itself 
was  sufficient  to  condemn  it.  And  when  shortly 
after  its  invention  smokeless  powder  came  into 
use,  even  its  hitherto  limited  field  of  usefulness 
quite  disappeared. 

But  meanwhile  other  and  better  range  finders 
were  in  course  of  development.  Most  of  these 
never  became  practical  instruments;  but  at  least 
three  types  have  been  found  practical,  and  are  in 
use  at  the  present  time,  and  all  of  them  act  on  the 
simple  but  all-important  underlying  principle  of 
solving  the  triangle. 

The  different  types  are  necessary  to  meet  three 
entirely  different  conditions — the  position  of  fixed 
batteries,  as  in  forts ;  the  positions  of  field  guns ; 
and  for  use  on  shipboard. 

Where  the  guns  are  stationary,  as  in  fortifica- 
tions, two  fixed  points  at  exactly  known  distances 
may  be  established,  and  electrical  connection  made 
between  these  points  which  represent  one  side  of 
the  triangle  to  be  solved.  As  the  instrument  used 
at  one  of  these  stations  acts  at  a  known  angle, 
readings  from  this  communicated  to  the  other 
station  will  enable  the  operator  to  determine  the 

[191] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

sides  of  the  triangle  formed  by  the  target,  his 
own  station,  and  the  other  station. 

This  would  be  a  horizontal  triangle,  easily 
solved,  but  the  fact  that  two  operators  are  re- 
quired to  take  the  observations  is  a  serious  draw- 
back. 

For  seacoast  fortifications  a  vertical  triangle 
may  be  used  where  the  observation  stand  can  be 
placed  far  enough  above  the  sea  level  so  that  the 
surface  of  the  water  can  be  used  as  one  of  the 
points  of  reckoning.  Thus,  if  the  observation 
tower  is  fifty  feet  above  the  level  of  the  water, 
there  will  always  be  the  fifty-foot  side  of  a  right- 
angle  triangle  from  which  to  make  reckonings, 
the  only  variation  being  that  made  by  the  tides, 
which  can  readily  be  determined. 

A  similar  method  of  using  a  vertical  triangle 
can  be  used  also  on  war  vessels  where  a  point  on 
the  bridge  or  fighting  top  is  far  enough  above  the 
water,  although  in  practice  other  methods  for 
range  finding  are  used  in  most  navies,  as  having 
greater  reliability. 

Several  range  finders  have  been  devised  for 
operating  in  the  open  field,  but  most  of  these  re- 
quire more  than  one  man  for  making  observa- 
tions. A  very  common  form  is  one  used  by  two 
observers  who  are  kept  at  a  fixed  distance  apart 
by  a  measured  steel  tape  line  held  tight.  As  these 
two  observers  must  keep  at  least  twenty-five  yards 
apart,  communications  between  them  may  be  mis- 
understood at  times ;  but  on  the  whole  this  method 
of  finding  ranges  is  very  satisfactory,  although, 

[192] 


GUN  SIGHTS  AND  RANGE  FINDERS 

of  course,  any  range  finder  requiring  more  than 
one  man  is  not  ideal. 

In  artillery  fire  the  exact  range  is  determined 
by  firing  a  few  test  shots  after  the  approximate 
range  has  been  determined  by  the  finder.  For  this 
purpose  a  shell  is  fired  from  a  gun  given  an  ele- 
vation corresponding  to  the  range  as  found  by 
the  range  finder,  the  bursting  point  of  the  shell  en- 
abling the  gunners  to  find  the  exact  range  of  a 
stationary  target  by  a  few  shots.  But  with  artil- 
lery fire  there  is  still  another  thing  to  be  deter- 
mined after  the  range  is  found.  This  is  the  cor- 
rect timing  of  the  shell — the  turning  of  the  fuse 
to  a  point  so  that  the  explosion  will  occur  at  the 
right  moment.  Knowing  the  range  helps  in  de- 
termining this,  of  course,  and  although  it  might 
seem  almost  impossible  to  time  a  shell  so  that  it 
will  burst  at  an  exact  point  several  miles  away, 
in  point  of  fact  the  gunners  are  able  to  do  this 
very  accurately  after  a  few  trial  shots,  as  amply 
demonstrated  in  modern  warfare. 

The  range  finders  in  use  by  most  navies,  while 
often  extremely  complicated  in  their  internal 
mechanism,  are  usually  very  simple  to  operate; 
and  it  is  possible  for  any  person  of  average  intel- 
ligence to  learn  to  use  them  accurately  after  a 
few  hours  of  training.  Indeed,  it  is  the  boast  of 
the  naval  men  that  with  their  range  finders  exact 
ranges  can  be  found  in  ten  or  fifteen  seconds,  even 
by  tyros  of  a  day's  training.  In  this  type  of  range 
finder  prisms  are  set  at  such  an  angle  that  their 
known  positions  and  the  angle  at  which  they  re- 

[193] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

fleet  light  are  made  to  take  the  place  of  the  second 
angle  of  the  triangle  to  be  determined. 

The  naval  gunner  has  even  a  better  chance  than 
the  land  artillerist  to  determine  the  exact  range 
by  watching  his  shots,  although  after  the  first  few 
seconds  of  firing  this  is  impossible  except  in  a 
general  way,  as  it  is  impossible  for  any  one  par- 
ticular gun  crew  to  distinguish  their  shots  from 
those  of  a  dozen  others  on  their  own  boat. 

Many  different  devices  have  been  tried  for 
transmitting  signals  from  the  range-finding  sta- 
tions to  different  points.  Telephones  are  very 
satisfactory  in  many  ways,  although  frequently 
rendered  useless  by  the  unavoidable  shock  of  the 
firing.  But  perhaps  the  most  practical  means  of 
communicating  is  by  means  of  the  telautograph, 
the  instrument  that  reproduces  handwriting  at  a 
distance.  Many  stations  are  equipped  with  these 
instruments,  but  usually  have  telephonic  com- 
munication as  well,  since  this  is  so  much  more 
rapid  and  satisfactory  while  it  remains  in  working 
order. 


[194] 


IX 

THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  BATTLE  SHIP 

STUDENTS  of  ancient  history  will  recall 
that  the  Romans,  after  adopting  the  Greek 
type  of  galley  with  its  many  tiers  of  oars- 
men, finally  discarded  this  type  of  boat,  for  ves- 
sels with  a  single,  or  at  most  a  double,  bank  of 
rowers.  And  it  is  probable  that  this  type  of  vessel, 
fitted  with  masts  and  using  sails  of  various 
shapes,  was  the  popular  one  in  use  throughout 
early  medieval  times.  But  the  sources  for  our 
knowledge  of  the  medieval  war  vessel  are  most 
meager,  as  very  few  authentic  records  of  such 
vessels  have  come  down  to  us.  It  may  be  taken 
for  granted,  however,  that  there  were  no  impor- 
tant innovations  or  improvements,  at  least  until 
late  in  medieval  times,  as  the  Dark  Age  was  not 
a  period  of  improvement  in  shipbuilding  any 
more  than  in  other  mechanical  arts. 

During  the  period  just  preceding  the  introduc- 
tion of  gunpowder,  war  vessels  were  still  of  the 
galley  type,  propelled  by  one  or  two  tiers  of  oars- 
men and  fitted  with  masts  and  sails. 

In  such  vessels  the  oars  used  were  much  longer 
than  the  average  oar  used  by  the  Greeks  and 
Phoenicians  in  antiquity,  and  several  men  some- 
times worked  upon  one  oar.  This  was  a  distinct 

[195] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

departure  from  the  method  of  either  Greeks  or 
Eomans,  as  in  their  vessels  only  one  man  worked 
at  an  oar,  regardless  of  its  length.  The  strokes 
taken  by  the  ancient  oarsmen  were,  therefore,  of 
the  paddling  type,  rather  than  the  long  sweep  of 
the  medieval  rowers. 

In  the  Greek  ship  the  long  oars  of  the  upper 
tier  of  rowers  were  weighted  on  the  short  hand 
piece  between  the  rowlocks  and  the  handles,  by 
pieces  of  lead  acting  as  a  counterpoise.  In  the 
medieval  galley  the  length  of  the  handle  acted 
as  a  counterpoise,  and  to  overcome  the  over-reach- 
ing of  this  long  handle  in  a  narrow  boat,  wooden 
outriggers  were  introduced.  These  outriggers, 
with  a  lengthened  section  of  the  oar  within  the 
ship,  constituted  probably  about  the  only  modifi- 
cations made  in  the  general  principle  of  the  galley 
during  the  Middle  Ages. 

The  masts  in  use  during  the  thirteenth  century 
were  short  and  heavy  pieces  of  timber,  having  at 
their  top  a  round  box  large  enough  to  contain 
from  two  to  six  men,  in  appearance  resembling 
the  fighting  top  of  the  modern  warship.  It  was 
the  duty  of  the  men  in  this  fighting  top  to  hurl 
missiles  down  upon  the  deck  and  into  the  hull  of 
the  enemy's  ship.  For  this  purpose  heavy  stones 
and  javelins  were  hauled  up  by  means  of  ropes 
arranged  for  the  purpose,  and  it  is  asserted  that 
the  fragments  of  rock  so  hurled  frequently  pierced 
the  hulls  of  the  ships,  showing  the  comparatively 
fragile  construction  of  the  boats  at  that  period. 

The  principal  part  of  the  fighting  was  done  by 
[196] 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  BATTLE  SHIP, 

soldiers  in  armor  protected  by  shields  arranged 
along  the  side  of  the  boat,  and  standing  on  a  plat- 
form built  above  the  heads  of  the  oarsmen. 

At  either  end  of  the  ship  was  a  "  castle,"  which 
was  made  with  one  or  more  decks,  upon  which 
were  mounted  the  military  engines  for  hurling 
fire  pots,  heavy  arrows,  or  javelins.  Such  ma- 
chines were  usually  of  the  catapult  type,  and  were 
sometimes  called  "  springalds. ' ' 

Firing  was  of  course  mostly  at  very  close  range, 
and  if  the  weather  gauge  could  be  secured  by  a 
vessel  the  soldiers  of  the  fortunate  boat  often 
threw  unslaked  lime  into  the  faces  of  their  ene- 
mies, blinding  them  and  burning  them.  This  form 
of  attack  was  the  most  terrible  known  in  warfare, 
being  even  worse  than  the  dreaded  Greek  fire. 
For  even  a  few  grains  of  the  lime  would  produce 
permanent  blindness,  and  when  particles  of  it  were 
carried  by  a  strong  wind  there  was  practically  no 
escape  from  it. 

The  prow  of  such  a  vessel  was  fitted  with  a 
heavy  spur  projecting  some  distance  in  front  for 
use  in  ramming.  Against  the  frail  side  of  the 
thirteenth-century  boat  this  method  of  attack  was 
practically  irresistible. 

During  the  reign  of  Edward  III  in  the  four- 
teenth century  gunpowder  came  into  use  very  gen- 
erally, and  cannon  was  soon  introduced  on  ship- 
board, and  at  about  the  same  time  sails  gradually 
displaced  the  oarsmen,  although  in  the  Spanish 
"  galleons,"  used  in  the  time  of  Henry  VIII,  oars- 
men were  still  employed  in  small  numbers,  being 

[  197  ] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

placed  alternately  with  the  cannon  along  the  sides 
of  the  boats. 

By  the  time  of  Elizabeth  portholes  had  been 
introduced,  making  possible  the  use  of  two  tiers 
of  guns.  This  method  of  placing  guns  is  said  to 
have  been  suggested  by  Descharges,  a  shipbuilder 
of  Brest.  Before  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century 
ships  with  two  or  three  gun  decks  had  come  into 
use,  and  the  masts  had  been  increased  in  number 
and  lengthened. 

Some  of  the  ships  of  this  period  carried  as  many 
as  one  hundred  and  twenty-two  guns,  being  longer 
and  narrower  than  the  ships  of  the  preceding  cen- 
tury, more  nearly  approaching  the  shape  of  the 
modern  frigate. 

In  the  seventeenth  century  little  actual  improve- 
ment was  made  in  war  vessels,  but  there  was  the 
general  increase  in  their  size  over  the  boats  of  the 
preceding  century.  The  great  English  warship 
called  the  Sovereign  of  the  Seas,  for  example,  was 
a  three-decker,  one  hundred  and  seventy-three 
feet  long  and  fifty  feet  wide,  with  a  hull  twenty 
feet  deep.  She  was  of  one  thousand  eight  hundred 
and  sixty-one  tons  displacement  (one-tenth  the  size 
of  a  twentieth-century  dreadnought),  and  carried 
about  one  hundred  and  fifty  guns.  At  this  period 
the  great  "  castles  "  at  the  bow  and  stern  were 
still  in  use,  the  stern  of  this  warship  being  at  least 
fifty  feet  out  of  the  water.  The  disadvantage  of 
such  structures  had  become  apparent,  however, 
and  the  Sovereign  of  the  Seas  was  eventually  cut 
down  so  that  her  appearance  was  much  the  same 

[198] 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  BATTLE  SHIP 

as  that  of  a  frigate  of  the  early  nineteenth  century. 

In  the  eighteenth  century  the  modifications  in 
warships  were  most  directed  to  improving  their 
structure,  perfecting  pumps,  and  increasing  their 
size,  and  there  was  little  change  in  the  general 
appearance  of  such  boats.  Some  of  these  vessels 
built  at  the  close  of  the  century  were  over  two 
hundred  feet  long,  fifty  feet  wide,  and  of  more 
than  twenty-five  hundred  tons '  displacement. 

In  other  chapters  the  apparent  stasis  in  im- 
provements in  firearms,  particularly  cannon,  be- 
tween the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century 
and  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  has 
been  referred  to.  During  this  period  there  seems 
to  have  been  a  corresponding  stasis  in  the  progress 
of  boat  building,  although  there  had  been  con- 
siderable improvement  in  the  shape  and  arrange- 
ment of  the  sails,  and  boats  had  become  more 
manageable  and  were  much  better  sailers. 

Most  of  the  guns  were  arranged  in  broadside, 
and  the  bow  and  stern  fire  of  such  vessels  was 
particularly  weak  and  ineffective ;  in  fact,  this  was 
true  even  of  modern  steam  war  vessels  until  the 
comparatively  recent  introduction  of  turrets. 

The  introduction  of  the  steamboat  had  little  ef- 
fect upon  war  vessels  for  some  time,  as  the  space 
taken  up  by  the  machinery  and  paddle  wheels,  and 
the  vulnerability  of  this  machinery,  more  than 
compensated  for  the  advantages  given  by  the 
steam  power.  On  the  introduction  of  the  pro- 
peller, however,  steam  war  vessels  came  into 
favor,  the  first  vessel  of  this  type  ever  built  as 

[199] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

a  man-of-war  being  the  Princeton,  launched  in  the 
United  States  in  1842. 

But  such  vessels  by  no  means  entirely  sup- 
planted the  old  sailing  ship  of  the  line,  and  the 
improvements  made  were  mostly  those  directed 
to  changing  and  improving  the  guns  rather  than 
the  ships  themselves. 

The  first  and  greatest  revolutionary  movement 
was  the  introduction  of  iron  plates  on  battle  ships 
at  about  the  time  of  the  Crimean  War;  but  the 
really  great  revolution  in  shipbuilding  did  not 
come  until  several  years  later,  after  Ericsson  had 
built  the  famous  Monitor.  An  indication  of  the 
lack  of  progress  in  shipbuilding  up  to  this  time 
is  shown  in  the  fact  that  of  the  two  American 
war  vessels  destroyed  by  the  Merrimac  on  the 
day  preceding  her  battle  with  the  Mo-nit  or  one 
was  a  sailing  vessel. 

THE   "  MONITOR  "   AND   "  MERKIMAC  " 

On  March  9th,  1862,  a  duel  between  two  iron- 
clad battle  ships  took  place,  one  a  vessel  of  the 
old  type,  given  protection  by  iron  plates,  the 
other  an  entirely  new  type  of  war  craft. 

The  older  type  of  vessel,  the  Merrimac,  many 
times  the  size  of  her  odd-shaped  antagonist,  was 
an  iron-plated  war  craft  of  the  old  broadside  type, 
made  to  take  and  give  a  pounding  of  metal  to  the 
bitter  end. 

The  other,  the  Monitor,  was  the  first  representa- 
tive of  an  entirely  novel  development  in  ships  of 

[200] 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  BATTLE  SHIP 

| 

war — a  turret  ship,  carrying  two  guns  only,  but 
made  invulnerable  by  its  peculiar  shape  and  ar- 
rangements for  protecting  its  meager  armament. 

The  result  of  this  remarkable  battle  between  an 
old  idea  and  a  wholly  new  one  was  a  drawn  con- 
test— in  the  sense  that  neither  vessel  was  sunk 
or  captured.  But  in  reality  it  was  a  monumental 
victory — a  veritable  Trafalgar,  in  its  effects.  For 
with  the  withdrawal  of  the  Merrimac  from  the 
contest,  thus  tacitly  admitting  that  she  could  not 
master  her  little  antagonist,  not  only  was  the  fate 
of  the  Confederacy  sealed,  but  the  death  knell  of 
every  naval  vessel  in  existence,  save  only  the  little 
"  Yankee  cheese  box,"  was  sounded. 

The  mid-century  ship  of  the  line,  the  modern 
propeller,  and  the  iron-plated  frigate,  forming  the 
most  formidable  part  of  European  navies  at  the 
time,  became  by  this  single  coup  obsolete  types 
of  fighting  craft — curiosities  of  ancient  warfare, 
models  of  which  would  henceforth  be  exhibited  in 
museums  side  by  side  with  Greek  trireme  and 
Eoman  galley,  as  examples  of  war  vessels  of  days 
gone  by. 

So  the  story  of  the  Monitor  has  unique  interest 
and  incalculable  importance. 

Early  in  the  Civil  War  the  Northern  troops 
were  obliged  to  evacuate  Norfolk  with  its  docks 
and  shipping.  In  these  dockyards  at  the  time  was 
the  sixty-gun  frigate  Merrimac,  and  in  order  to 
prevent  her  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  Con- 
federates, she  was  burned  and  sunk  by  the  retir- 
ing Federals.  She  appears  to  have  sunk,  how- 

[201] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

ever,  before  any  great  damage  had  been  done  to 
her  hull  and  machinery,  and  soon  afterwards  she 
was  raised  by  the  Confederate  engineers.  The 
Confederacy  at  that  time  had  few  boats  and  few 
resources  for  building  a  navy,  while  the  North 
had  a  rapidly  increasing  fleet  of  modern  vessels. 
One  vessel  more  or  less,  therefore,  could  make 
little  difference  in  the  issue,  unless  such  a  vessel 
could  be  made  so  impregnable  and  so  formidable 
that  she  could  cope  with  a  fleet  of  ordinary 
ships. 

At  that  time  iron  war  vessels  were  being  built 
for  European  navies,  based  on  the  experience  of 
certain  armored  ships  in  the  Crimean  War,  but 
the  actual  value  of  such  ships  in  battle  had  not 
been  determined,  and  many  of  them  were  still  in 
various  stages  of  construction  on  the  ways  in  the 
shipyards.  The  possibilities  of  what  might  be 
accomplished  by  such  protected  vessels  was  dis- 
cerned by  the  Confederate  authorities,  and  it  was 
determined  to  remodel  the  captured  Merrimac 
into  an  iron-clad  which  might  hope  to  destroy  the 
wooden  fleets  of  the  Federals.  To  do  this  all  the 
upper  works  of  the  vessel  were  removed,  and  re- 
placed by  a  rectangular  casement  which  occupied 
the  central  position  of  the  boat  for  about  one 
hundred  and  seventy  feet.  This  was  made  of 
heavy  timbers  covered  with  two  layers  of  iron 
plates  made  from  railroad  rails,  this  plating  of 
metal  extending  from  two  feet  below  the  water 
line  to  seven  feet  over  the  gun  decks,  and  sloping 
at  an  angle  of  about  forty-five  degrees  for  deflect- 

[202] 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  BATTLE  SHIP 

ing  cannon  balls.  The  top  of  this  casemate  was 
made  of  iron  grating,  which  afforded  light  and 
ventilation,  while  only  a  funnel  and  iron-plated 
pilot  house  protruded  above  it.  The  armament 
of  this  new  battle  ship  was  ten  guns:  two  one- 
hundred-pounders  at  either  side  of  the  casemate; 
and  one  seven-inch  rifle  and  three  nine-inch 
smooth-bores  on  each  broadside.  By  this  recon- 
struction the  Merrimac  became  one  of  the  most 
formidable  fighting  craft  afloat,  and  absolutely 
invulnerable  to  ordinary  wooden  frigates. 

The  news  of  the  converting  of  the  captured 
Merrimac  into  an  iron-clad  reached  the  North  soon 
after  it  was  begun,  and  occasioned  great  uneasi- 
ness at  Washington;  but  several  months  elapsed 
before  any  definite  action  was  taken  to  avert  this 
impending  disaster  to  the  Northern  navy.  Then 
the  Navy  Department,  becoming  thoroughly 
alarmed,  invited  proposals  for  armored  ships.  In 
response  came  the  proposal  of  John  Ericsson,  a 
Swede  who  had  chosen  America  as  his  home,  to 
build  a  boat  on  a  turret  plan,  for  which  he  had 
made  designs  some  eight  years  earlier — designs 
that  had  been  rejected  by  Louis  Napoleon. 

The  novelty  of  Ericsson's  suggestions  and  the 
urgency  of  the  case  at  last  led  to  a  provisional 
acceptance  of  his  plans.  The  new  vessel  was  to 
be  completed  within  one  hundred  days,  at  the 
builder's  own  risk,  and  not  to  be  accepted  unless 
she  proved  successful.  The  limited  time  allowed 
was  on  account  of  the  rapidly  approaching  com- 
pletion of  the  Merrimac. 

[203] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

Ericsson's  creation,  which  he  called  the  Monitor, 
was  one  of  the  most  remarkable  appearing  fight- 
ing boats  ever  designed.  At  a  little  distance  it 
appeared  like  a  short  oval  raft,  on  which  was 
placed  a  round  "  turret  " — a  "  cheese  box,"  as 
it  was  derisively  called — from  two  openings  in 
the  sides  of  which  protruded  the  muzzles  of  the 
two  guns.  The  boat  was,  in  fact,  a  sort  of  steam 
raft  with  a  ship's  bottom,  her  decks  being  two 
feet  out  of  the  water.  She  was  one  hundred  and 
seventy-two  feet  long,  and  about  one  thousand 
tons'  displacement,  and  her  armament  consisted 
of  two  eleven-inch  smooth-bore  guns.  But  while 
apparently  outclassed  in  every  essential  point  by 
such  a  boat  as  the  Merrimac — in  size,  speed,  and 
number  of  guns  carried — there  were  two  points 
in  which  she  outclassed  any  war  vessel  ever  built 
before.  These  were  her  invulnerability  to  shot, 
and  the  fact  that  her  revolving  turret  allowed  her 
two  guns  to  be  fired  in  any  direction  with  equal 
facility.  Besides  this,  she  sat  so  low  in  the  water 
that  the  target  she  offered  to  the  enemy  was  small 
and  difficult  to  hit. 

The  revolutionary  idea  of  a  revolving  turret, 
now  for  the  first  time  practically  tested,  had  been 
conceived  by  the  American,  Dr.  T.  B.  Timby,  some 
twenty  years  before,  and  the  validity  of  his  pat- 
ents, the  first  taken  out  in  1843,  was  recognized 
by  the  company  that  financed  the  building  of  the 
Monitor,  and  a  substantial  monetary  payment 
made  him  for  the  right  to  make  use  of  the  prin- 
ciple of  the  revolving  turret.  It  may  not  be 

[204] 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  BATTLE  SHIP. 

strictly  just,  but  it  is  in  accordance  with  the  prece- 
dents of  history,  that  the  chief  honor  was  subse- 
quently given  to  the  man  who  practically  carried 
out  the  idea  of  the  revolving  turret,  rather  than 
to  the  one  who  conceived  the  idea. 

Within  the  stated  time  this  Monitor  was  com- 
pleted and  hurried  south  to  Hampton  Eoads. 

But  a  few  days  before  this  the  finishing  touches 
had  been  given  the  Merrimac,  and  she  had  been 
sent  out  on  her  mission  of  destruction  against 
the  blockading  Union  squadron,  which  consisted 
of  five  war  vessels.  On  March  8th,  1862,  she  made 
her  first  attack.  Two  Union  vessels  only  of  the 
five,  the  Congress  and  the  Cumberland,  were  able 
to  engage  her,  and  these  showered  shot  and  shell 
against  her  iron  sides,  with  no  appreciable  effect 
whatever.  In  return  she  rammed  and  sank  the 
Cumberland  without  injury  to  herself,  and  forced 
the  Congress  to  surrender  after  rendering  her 
helpless. 

Satisfied  with  this  one  day's  work,  she  returned 
to  her  anchorage,  intending  to  renew  her  career 
of  devastation  the  following  day. 

The  effect  of  the  news  of  this  victory  upon  the 
North  and  South  can  be  readily  imagined.  To  the 
Confederates  it  seemed  that  by  means  of  this 
invulnerable  ship  they  would  be  able  to  destroy 
the  entire  Union  fleet,  devastate  the  coast,  open 
the  Southern  ports  and  close  the  Northern  ones, 
and  successfully  assail  Washington  itself.  In 
the  North  there  appeared  to  be  no  way  of  pre- 
venting this  disaster,  and  the  night  of  March  8th, 

[205] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

1862,  was  one  of  gloom  and  foreboding  perhaps 
never  equaled  before  or  since  in  the  history  of 
the  Republic. 

Meanwhile,  Ericsson's  little  Monitor — with  its 
all-essential  Timby  turret — was  creeping  along 
the  coast  towards  Hampton  Eoads,  and  before 
daybreak  it  dropped  anchor  with  the  crippled 
Union  squadron. 

Bright  and  early  the  following  morning  the 
smoke  of  the  Merrimac  announced  that  she  had 
started  to  complete  the  work  begun  the  day  be- 
fore. As  she  neared  the  Federal  squadron  she 
headed  for  the  frigate  Minnesota,  selecting  her 
as  the  first  victim.  But  before  she  could  reach 
the  wooden  frigate  the  little  Monitor  steamed  into 
her  path,  and  greeted  her  with  two  one-hundred- 
and-fifty-pound  balls  from  her  Dahlgrens. 

Eelinquishing  for  the  moment  her  purpose  of 
attacking  the  Minnesota,  the  Merrimac  turned 
upon  her  queer-looking  assailant,  expecting  to 
demolish  her  as  she  had  the  Cumberland  and  Con- 
gress on  the  preceding  day;  but  her  shells  only 
rattled  harmlessly  off  the  turret  of  the  Monitor, 
or  passed  over  her  completely.  Again  and  again 
she  attempted  to  ram,  but  her  iron  prow  only 
scraped  against  the  iron  sides  of  the  little  craft  or 
passed  harmlessly  along  her  decks. 

Meanwhile  the  two  smooth-bores  from  the  turret 
of  the  Monitor  were  pounding  away  at  the  iron 
plates  of  her  huge  adversary,  having  little  or  no 
effect. 

For  several  hours  this  most  remarkable  of 
[206] 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  BATTLE  SHIP 

naval  duels  continued,  neither  boat  suffering  very 
materially  in  the  encounter;  but  at  last  the 
Merrimac,  seemingly  disheartened,  and  probably 
somewhat  more  damaged  than  her  enemy,  gave  up 
the  fight  and  returned  to  her  harbor,  leaving  the 
little  turret  ship  in  possession  of  the  field. 

The  effect  of  this  drawn  battle  upon  the  people 
of  the  North  and  South  needs  no  description. 
There  were  no  European  cables  in  that  day,  and 
almost  a  fortnight  elapsed  before  Europe  heard 
the  news ;  but  when  it  did  hear  it  the  effect  pro- 
duced was  as  great  as  upon  any  section  in  Amer- 
ica— but  for  a  different  reason.  The  announce- 
ment of  the  success  of  the  turret  ship  made  it 
evident  that  ships  of  the  old  type  could  no  longer 
be  considered  effective  war  vessels,  and  that  every 
country  must  reconstruct  its  navy  along  new  lines. 

The  broadside  war  vessels,  built  or  building, 
had  become  obsolete  types  in  a  single  day  by  this 
battle  of  "  turret  versus  broadside. " 

If  the  little  Monitor  could  be  placed  beside  such 
a  modern  battle  ship  as  the  famous  Oregon,  or 
the  newer  and  more  formidable  Connecticut,  of 
the  American  navy,  or  beside  the  Japanese  Hat- 
suce,  or  the  still  more  wonderful  dreadnoughts 
and  superdreadnoughts,  a  casual  observer  would 
find  little  in  common  in  the  appearance  of  the  sin- 
gle turret  and  low  free  board  of  the  Monitor  and 
the  towering  steel  sides  of  the  newer  vessels. 

But  nevertheless  the  revolving  turrets,  pro- 
tective decks,  and  armored  sides  of  each  of  these 
larger  boats  are  the  direct  development  of  the 

[  207  ] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

"  Yankee  cheese  box,"  with  which  John  Ericsson 
revolutionized  sea  fighting.  The  development  of 
guns  and  armor,  the  elevated  free  board,  and  mili- 
tary masts  are  all  details  of  improvement,  not  de- 
parting from  the  great  general  principle  involved 
in  the  little  Monitor  of  the  Civil  War. 

"  Among  the  great  men  who  saved  the  Union 
and  freed  the  slaves,"  says  Fisk,  "  one  of  the 
most  important  was  the  man  of  science,  John 
Ericsson."  Nor  should  we  forget,  in  the  same 
connection,  the  name  of  Dr.  Theodore  Euggles 
Timby,  whose  idea  of  a  defensive  turret  was  the 
fundamental  one  that  underlay  the  construction 
of  the  Monitor  and  brought  about  the  revolution 
in  naval  warfare. 

MODEBN   WAE  VESSELS 

All  modern  warships  of  the  heavier  type,  then, 
are  merely  improved  structures  built  upon  the 
Monitor  principle,  and  even  the  lighter  ships,  such 
as  the  cruisers,  adhere  as  much  as  possible  to  the 
plan  introduced  by  the  Monitor  of  having  all  the 
machinery  and  steering  gear  below  the  water  line. 

For  a  time  after  the  turret  vessel  came  into 
use,  similar  vessels  with  low  free  board  and  turrets 
for  the  guns  were  practically  the  only  battle  ships 
built.  But  many  objections  were  found  to  boats 
of  this  type  as  seagoing  vessels.  Their  invul- 
nerability was  of  course  recognized  and  appreci- 
ated, and  for  seacoast  and  harbor  defense  they 
fulfilled  the  requirements  very  well.  But  sea- 

[  208  ] 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  BATTLE  SHIP. 

worthiness  is  quite  as  essential  as  invulnerability, 
and  the  monitors  did  not  fulfil  the  necessary  con- 
ditions for  this.  They  were  slow,  the  quarters  for 
the  crew  were  cramped,  and  in  stormy  weather, 
when  the  hatches  had  to  be  kept  down,  the  air 
below  decks  became  almost  unbearably  foul. 

Besides  this,  the  guns  in  the  turrets  being  so 
close  to  the  surface  of  the  water,  made  accurate 
shooting  at  long  range  impossible. 

Gradually,  therefore,  changes  were  made  in  the 
structure  of  the  monitor  type  of  boat,  and  as 
armor  became  more  and  more  perfected,  it  was 
possible  to  raise  a  steel  free  board  about  the  pro- 
tective deck  of  the  monitor  type,  elevate  the  bar- 
bettes and  turrets  above  this,  and  still  maintain 
the  maximum  protection  while  gaining  incalcula- 
bly in  the  matter  of  space  for  the  crew,  machinery, 
and  stores. 

The  introduction  of  torpedoes  and  torpedo 
boats,  and  the  improvement  in  quick-firing  guns, 
made  it  necessary  for  the  battle  ship  to  have  a 
secondary  battery  aside  from  her  turret  guns,  and 
places  for  mounting  these  guns;  and  gradually 
the  steel  upper  works  were  added,  increasing  her 
offensive  power  without  weakening  her  defensive 
strength.  So  that  the  modern  type  of  battle  ship, 
although  still  retaining  the  same  general  skeletal 
structure  of  monitor  boats,  resembles  more  nearly 
a  peaceful  merchant  vessel  or  "  greyhound  "  in 
general  appearance  than  she  does  her  "  cheese- 
box  "  prototype. 

Monitors  closely  adhering  to  the  old  type  have 
[209] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

been  built  quite  recently,  to  be  sure,  improved  and 
added  to  in  superstructure  and  armament,  but 
these  are  only  for  coast-defense  work  and  are  not 
intended  for  seagoing.  It  should  not  be  under- 
stood that  they  cannot  go  to  sea,  however,  as  is 
shown  by  the  fact  that  two  American  monitors 
were  sent  to  the  Philippines  during  the  Spanish- 
American  War.  Neither  should  it  be  understood 
that  the  modern  monitor  is  not  a  formidable  fight- 
ing craft,  even  when  pitted  against  recent  battle 
ships. 

There  are  those  who  still  believe  that  these 
"  ocean  bulldogs  "  would  be  a  match  for  the 
largest  battle  ship,  because  of  the  small  target 
they  present  to  an  enemy,  and  the  damage  they 
could  inflict  with  their  turret  guns  firing  at  the 
great  sides  of  a  steel  war  vessel. 

Fully  to  appreciate  descriptions  of  modern  war 
vessels,  something  must  be  known  of  the  various 
classes  of  fighting  craft  of  modern  navies.  Not 
every  naval  vessel  designed  to  take  part  in  bat- 
tles is  a  "  battle  ship,"  properly  speaking;  but 
such  a  war  vessel  must  fall  into  one  of  several 
classes  of  boats,  known  either  as  battle  ships, 
armored  cruisers,  protected  cruisers,  or  gun- 
boats, respectively.  The  terms  torpedo  boats,  sub- 
marines, transports,  colliers,  etc.,  explain  them- 
selves. 

The  "  battle  ship  "  is  the  most  heavily  armored, 
heavily  armed  ship  of  the  modern  navy.  She  is 
the  highest  type  of  fighting  machine,  and  out- 
classes all  other  kinds  of  vessels,  and  theoretically 

[210] 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  BATTLE  SHIP, 

can  destroy  any  boat  of  any  class  other  than  her 
own. 

The  "  armored  cruiser  "  is  one  step  below  the 
battle  ship  in  size  of  guns,  thickness  of  armor 
protection,  and  general  fighting  capacity.  She  has 
turrets  and  protecting  armor,  but  not  such  heavy 
armor  as  the  battle  ship.  On  the  other  hand,  she 
is  much  faster,  so  that  in  the  open  sea  her  speed 
would  be  instrumental  in  saving  her  if  attacked 
by  a  battle  ship. 

The  "  protected  cruiser  "  has  still  lighter  guns 
than  the  armored  cruiser,  and  her  armor  is  con- 
fined largely  to  a  protective  steel  deck,  frbm  one 
to  three  or  four  inches  thick,  curved  over  her 
machinery  like  a  tortoise  shell.  Her  guns  are  not 
in  turrets  or  barbettes,  but  are  mounted  behind 
steel  shields.  She  has  greater  speed  than  the 
armored  cruiser,  theoretically  at  least,  and  could 
thus  keep  out  of  reach  of  the  other  two  classes  of 
boats. 

Gunboats  are  small,  unprotected  cruisers,  whose 
function  is  confined  to  attacks  on  light  boats  or 
lightly  defended  places.  Such  boats  are  not  sup- 
posed to  stand  the  brunt  of  battle,  unless  fighting 
boats  of  their  own  class. 

In  short,  war  vessels,  like  pugilists,  are  divided 
into  classes,  the  relative  strength  of  the  one 
corresponding  to  the  corresponding  weight  (and 
therefore  strength,  everything  else  being  equal) 
of  the  other,  the  battle  ships,  armored  cruisers, 
protected  cruisers,  and  gunboats  in  fighting  ships 
corresponding  to  heavy-weight,  middle-weight, 

[211] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

lightweight,  and  feather-weight  with  pugilists. 
The  heavy-weight  pugilist  outclasses  the  middle- 
weight, and,  if  both  are  first-raters,  can  defeat  him 
with  certainty;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  a  second- 
rate  heavy-weight  might  be  unable  to  cope  with 
a  first-rate  middle-weight.  So  with  war  vessels, 
a  first-class  cruiser  might  defeat  a  second-class 
battle  ship  under  certain  conditions. 


One  of  the  amazing  developments  of  the  last 
half  of  the  nineteenth  century  was  the  introduc- 
tion of  Western  civilized  customs  in  Japan.  And 
not  the  least  astonishing  of  these  adaptations  was 
the  development  of  her  navy.  Yet  in  actual  num- 
ber of  years  of  development  the  modern  United 
States  navy  rivals  the  Japanese  in  youthfulness. 
The  amazing  fluctuations  of  the  status  of  the 
American  navy  since  its  birth  under  the  guiding 
hand  of  Paul  Jones  is  one  of  the  curious  paradoxes 
of  history. 

Forty-five  years  ago  the  United  States  pos- 
sessed a  more  powerful  navy  than  all  the  other 
nations  of  the  globe  together. 

Ten  years  later  she  had  practically  no  navy  at 
all,  even  some  of  the  South  American  countries 
making  a  much  better  showing  in  fighting  ships. 
But  now,  in  the  opening  years  of  the  new  century, 
she  seems  again  to  be  climbing  to  her  exalted 
position  of  leader  in  efficient  navies,  although 
there  is  little  probability  that  she  will  ever  again 

[212] 


ZEPPELIN  OVER  ARMY  AVIATION  FIELD 


AIRSHIP  DESTROYER 

Gun  for  repelling  the  attacks  of  aeroplane  and  dirigible  balloon,  mounted 

for  field  use. 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  BATTLE  SHIP 

outclass  all  the  world  combined,  as  she  did  at  the 
close  of  the  Civil  War. 

The  reason  of  the  decadence  of  the  great  navy 
of  the  sixties  was  simply  that  the  country  was 
too  busy  making  internal  repairs  to  pay  much 
attention  to  a  navy,  when  there  seemed  no  need 
of  having  one.  The  greatest  war  ever  fought  had 
been  terminated  within  her  own  boundaries,  and 
the  country  was  sated  with  fighting.  "  Let  us 
have  peace,"  was  the  sentiment  of  the  entire 
country. 

But  besides  this  sentiment  there  was  a  confi- 
dence among  the  majority  of  people  that,  should 
the  occasion  for  needing  a  navy  arise,  there  would 
be  no  difficulty  in  securing  one  in  short  order. 
Had  we  not  done  so  in  this  very  war?  Ships 
could  be  bought  or  built  as  quickly  as  needed, 
most  people  argued,  and,  as  a  result,  there  was 
gradual  dropping  behind  of  our  naval  equipment, 
until  the  very  name  "  American  Navy  "  excited 
the  risibilities  of  foreigners.  But  meanwhile  the 
very  inventions  produced  by  the  Civil  War  itself 
—the  iron  and  steel  battle  ships,  of  peculiar  type 
— had  so  changed  the  order  of  things  naval  that 
it  was  no  longer  possible  to  do  as  had  been  done 
in  ante-bellum  days.  Iron  ships,  with  peculiar 
guns,  and  not  merely  converted  merchant  vessels, 
could  not  be  built  in  a  day,  or  purchased  at  any 
price  in  an  emergency. 

The  day  of  the  modern  navy  was  at  hand,  and 
the  American  people,  having  themselves  taken  the 
initial  steps  for  its  creation,  were  not  aware  of  it. 

[213] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

By  1883,  however,  the  appeals  of  the  naval  men 
for  some  semblance  of  a  modern  navy  had  had 
sufficient  effect  so  that  four  small  modern  war 
vessels  were  authorized,  a  tiny  dispatch  boat  of 
fifteen  hundred  tons,  and  three  cruisers.  These 
were  the  Dolphin,  the  Boston,  the  Atlanta,  and  the 
Chicago.  Two  years  later  two  more  cruisers  and 
two  gunboats  were  authorized;  and  the  year  fol- 
lowing an  act  was  passed  authorizing  the  com- 
pletion of  four  monitors  whose  keels  had  been 
laid  in  1874.  These  monitors,  the  Amphitrite, 
Miantonomah,  Terror,  and  Monadnock,  were  of 
the  old  Civil  War  type,  but  were  modernized  by 
the  addition  of  recent  types  of  guns ;  and  although 
they  were  the  source  of  much  merriment  among 
European  naval  men,  they  were  powerful  fight- 
ing machines — undoubtedly  quite  as  powerful  as 
some  of  the  almost  universally  lauded  battle  ships 
of  the  period. 

Another  provision  of  the  act  of  1886  called  for 
the  construction  of  at  least  one  battle  ship  of 
modern  type,  an  experimental  dynamite  cruiser, 
and  a  torpedo  boat.  The  first  battle  ship  was  the 
Texas,  which  did  so  many  peculiar  things  at  vari- 
ous times  until  the  Spanish- American  War,  when 
she  showed  her  mettle  and  proved  that  she  was 
indeed  a  good  fighter  in  war,  even  if  somewhat 
eccentric  in  time  of  peace. 

The  Maine  was  also  authorized  in  this  year,  and 
these  ships,  with  the  other  vessels  built  or  build- 
ing, formed  a  nucleus  for  a  navy  of  which  no  one 
need  be  ashamed. 

[214] 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  BATTLE  SHIP 

From  that  time  the  future  of  the  American 
navy  was  assured.  Stimulated  by  the  successes 
of  the  Spanish  War,  and  brought  to  a  realization 
that  a  great  world-power  must  have  a  great  navy, 
Congress  has  been  authorizing  battle  ships,  cruis- 
ers, gunboats,  torpedo  craft,  and  submarines  with 
monotonous  regularity  since  that  time. 


While  the  stirring  times  of  the  Spanish- Amer- 
ican War  were  still  fresh  in  mind,  the  battle  ship 
Oregon  was  often  named  in  the  public  press  as 
peerless  among  battle  ships.  The  development  of 
the  years  immediately  succeeding  soon  displaced 
this  ship  from  the  premier  position.  But  she 
represents  a  stage  in  the  progress  of  evolution 
from  the  monitor  to  the  most  modern  battle  ship, 
and  her  performance  in  the  crisis  of  our  history 
entitles  her,  for  sentimental  reasons,  to  more  than 
passing  mention. 

In  planning  the  Oregon,  and  her  sister  ships, 
the  Massachusetts  and  the  Indiana,  the  naval  ex- 
perts adhered  to  many  of  the  principles  that  have 
made  the  monitor  class  of  boats  famous,  at  the 
same  time  adopting  some  of  the  features  of  the 
best  foreign  war  vessels  then  in  course  of  con- 
struction. The  boats  were,  indeed,  a  compromise 
between  the  monitor  and  the  modern  battle  ship 
as  far  as  the  general  structure  went,  the  low  decks 
being  higher  than  those  of  the  monitor,  but  lower 
than  those  of  the  approved  type  of  battle  ships. 

[215] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

In  arms,  armor,  and  general  equipment,  however, 
they  were  strictly  modern  fighting  machines. 

A  belt  of  eighteen-inch  armor  protected  the  vital 
parts  of  the  hull,  while  seventeen-inch  plates  in 
the  barbettes  and  fifteen-inch  thickness  of  steel  in 
the  turrets  protected  the  guns. 

Four  thirteen-inch,  eight  eight-inch,  and  four 
six- inch  guns  made  up  the  main  battery;  while 
twenty  six-pounders,  six  one-pounders,  four  Gat- 
lings,  and  two  field  guns,  with  three  torpedo  tubes, 
completed  the  destructive  armament — a  total  of 
some  fifty  weapons  of  all  classes. 

The  Oregon's  displacement  of  over  ten  thousand 
tons,  and  her  speed  of  over  sixteen  knots,  marked 
her  as  an  ocean-going  boat,  in  the  ordinary  sense 
of  the  term ;  and  her  wonderful  voyage  from  Cali- 
fornia to  Cuba  confirmed  the  predictions  of  her 
designers  and  builders. 

Her  fighting  qualities,  which  were  tested  on 
various  occasions  in  Cuban  waters,  were  fully  up 
to  expectations.  But  the  modern  fighting  boat 
must  be  something  more  than  a  mere  fighter ;  she 
must  be  a  home  for  half  a  thousand  or  more  men. 
And  the  low  free  board  of  the  Oregon  and  her  sis- 
ters was  too  likely  to  be  under  water  too  much  of 
the  time  in  a  seaway  for  comfort,  interfering  also 
with  the  working  of  her  guns.  And  so  the  Oregon 
type  of  battle  ship  was  obsolete  even  before  it  had 
a  chance  to  prove  its  fighting  qualities  in  actual 
warfare.  Indeed,  one  of  the  fighting  companions 
of  the  Oregon  before  Santiago,  the  Iowa,  although 
only  two  years  her  junior,  may  be  taken  as  the 

[216] 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  BATTLE  SHIP. 

representative  of  the  higher  type  of  fighter.  She 
was  the  first  "  seagoing  "  battle  ship  of  the  new 
American  navy. 

To  the  casual  lay  observer  there  is  little  differ- 
ence between  the  Iowa  type  of  boat  and  the  Ore- 
gon, this  difference  being  largely  in  the  height  of 
the  fore  part  of  the  hull  above  the  water.  And  in 
point  of  fact,  technical  differences  aside,  this  is 
the  main  difference.  There  were  of  course  scores 
of  minor  improvements  in  the  newer  boats,  but 
this  was  the  main  point  of  departure  from  the 
Oregon  type.  Indeed,  the  Iowa  is  really  a  some- 
what enlarged  Oregon,  with  a  free  board  some  nine 
feet  higher  in  the  fore  part  of  the  ship,  and  with 
guns  of  slightly  different  caliber  in  her  main  tur- 
rets. 

At  the  same  time  the  Oregon  and  her  sister 
ships  were  fighting  before  Santiago  there  were 
building  in  American  shipyards  two  novel 
types  of  sea  warriors,  built  on  lines  of  purely 
American  conception.  They  were  the  Kentucky 
and  Kearsarge,  and  the  arrangement  of  their  tur- 
rets represented  a  distinct  departure  in  naval 
architecture.  In  place  of  the  turrets  for  the  heavy 
guns — the  twelve-inch  and  the  eight-inch — hav- 
ing separate  locations  on  the  ship  and  acting  in- 
dependently, as  in  the  case  of  all  other  battle 
ships  in  the  world  at  that  time,  the  four  turrets 
of  these  two  ships  were  grouped  in  pairs,  an 
eight-inch  turret  being  superimposed  upon  a 
twelve-inch.  So  that  each  turret  was  really  a  two- 
story  steel  house,  through  the  front  of  which 
[217] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

protruded  four  great  guns  so  arranged  that  they 
could  be  trained  simultaneously  upon  the  same 
spot. 

The  objections  to  this  arrangement  of  the  guns 
and  the  general  structure  of  such  a  boat  were 
that  the  concentration  of  so  much  weight  near 
the  ends  of  the  boat  were  likely  to  impair  her 
seaworthiness;  that  there  would  be  serious  com- 
plications in  such  a  concentration  of  ammunition 
supply,  and  difficulty  with  the  ammunition  hoists 
placed  so  closely  together ;  and  that  the  simultane- 
ous recoil  of  the  four  heavy  guns  would  be  too 
great  a  strain  on  the  surrounding  structures. 
There  were  also  the  military  objections  that  all 
four  guns  might  be  disabled  by  a  single  shot,  which 
would  be  impossible  with  turrets  arranged  in  the 
ordinary  manner;  and  that  it  was  a  doubtful 
policy  to  intrust  the  sighting  of  four  great  guns 
to  a  single  gunner.  But  these  objections  were  an- 
swered and  refuted,  as  is  proved  by  the  fact  that 
the  boats  were  constructed  and  placed  in  commis- 
sion. And  while  there  has  been  no  opportunity 
to  test  their  efficiency  in  actual  war,  in  practice 
they  have  proved  to  be  all  that  their  advocates 
had  claimed  for  them. 

The  Kentucky  and  Kearsarge  were  the  first  of 
the  American  battle  ships  completed  after  the 
Spanish-American  War.  Others  were  building, 
however,  such  as  the  Alabama  class  of  more 
than  eleven  thousand  tons'  displacement  each,  and 
these  were  followed  by  still  larger  vessels,  some  of 
them,  the  Georgia  class,  resembling  the  Ken- 

[218] 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  BATTLE  SHIP. 

tucky  and  Kearsarge  in  having  superposed  tur- 
rets, showing  that  this  purely  American  method 
of  placing  the  heavy  guns  was  popular,  despite 
active  opposition  in  certain  quarters. 

When  the  war  opened  in  the  Far  East,  the 
United  States  was  constructing  some  sea  monsters 
of  the  Connecticut  class,  that  are  something 
more  than  half  again  larger  than  the  veteran 
Oregon.  They  represented  at  that  time  the  acme 
of  battle-ship  architecture,  and  may  still  be  reck- 
oned as  formidable  vessels.  But  in  view  of  the 
lessons  of  the  Russo-Japanese  War  it  is  not  un- 
likely that  they  mark  the  closing  of  an  epoch  of 
battle-ship  construction,  at  least  as  far  as  their 
armament  is  concerned.  For  this  reason,  there- 
fore, some  interesting  comparisons  may  be  made 
with  the  original  fighting  turret  ship,  the  Monitor, 
on  one  hand,  and  the  Connecticut,  and  later,  be- 
tween this  vessel  and  the  new  English  battle  ship, 
Dreadnought,  which  established  a  new  class,  to  be 
followed  by  the  superdreadnoughts. 

There  can  be  no  more  striking  evidence  of  the 
rapid  advances  made  in  battle-ship  building  dur- 
ing the  last  quarter  of  a  century  than  a  com- 
parison between  the  size,  armor,  and  armament 
of  Ericsson's  Monitor,  probably  the  most  power- 
ful fighting  ship  in  1862,  and  such  a  battle  ship 
as  the  U.  S.  S.  Connecticut,  one  of  the  most  pow- 
erful fighting  machines  of  the  predreadnought 
days. 

It  will  be  recalled  that  the  entire  fighting  equip- 
ment of  the  Monitor  consisted  of  two  one-hundred- 

[219] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

and-fifty-pounder  smooth-bore  cannon  carried  in  a 
single  turret,  the  displacement  of  the  boat  being 
only  about  one  thousand  tons.  Such  figures 
as  these  seem  absolutely  ludicrous  when  com- 
pared with  the  size  and  armament  of  the  Connec- 
ticut. 

This  leviathan  of  sixteen  thousand  tons  dis- 
placement carries  some  sixty-two  guns  and  four 
torpedo  tubes.  She  is  four  hundred  and  fifty  feet 
long  and  over  seventy-six  feet  in  beam.  She  car- 
ries her  heaviest  guns  in  six  steel  turrets,  and  even 
her  relatively  small  guns,  the  seven-inch,  fire  pro- 
jectiles weighing  one  hundred  and  sixty-five 
pounds,  or  fifteen  pounds  more  than  the  guns  of 
the  Monitor,  with  a  penetration  of  over  twenty- 
eight  inches  of  iron.  In  other  words,  a  shot  from 
such  guns  would  go  completely  through  the  turret 
of  the  Monitor,  emerging  with  sufficient  velocity 
to  pierce  the  side  armor  of  a  second  monitor.  The 
time  required  by  such  a  boat  to  destroy  completely 
both  the  Monitor  and  Merrimac  at  reasonable 
range  would  probably  be  reckoned  in  seconds,  or 
at  most  in  minutes,  whereas  the  famous  battle 
between  the  two  boats  lasted  several  hours  with- 
out either  sustaining  any  material  damage. 

The  Connecticut  has  a  main  armor  belt  running 
from  bow  to  stern  varying  from  four  inches  in 
thickness  at  bow  and  stern  to  eleven  inches  at 
its  thickest  part  on  the  middle  third  amidships. 
This  armor  is  of  the  Krupp  face-hardened  type. 
The  two  main  turrets,  each  containing  two  twelve- 
inch  guns,  are  twelve  inches  in  thickness,  while 

[220] 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  BATTLE  SHIP 

the  four  turrets  for  the  eight-inch  guns  are  eight 
inches  in  thickness. 

The  sixty-two  guns  she  carries  are  composed 
of  the  following  sizes:  Four  twelve-inch,  eight 
eight-inch,  twelve  seven-inch,  twelve  three-inch 
rapid-fire  guns,  twenty-six  smaller  machines  and 
automatic  guns,  and  four  submerged  torpedo 
tubes.  She  can  steam  at  the  rate  of  eighteen  knots, 
and  her  fighting  complement  of  men  is  over  eight 
hundred. 

These  figures  contrast  strikingly  with  such 
figures  as  those  of  the  Civil  War  monitors;  and 
it  would  seem  that  this  mountain  of  metal  must 
be  practically  invulnerable.  And  yet  it  was  two 
similar  vessels  that  were  sent  to  the  bottom,  on 
the  first  night  of  the  Kusso-Japanese  War,  by 
Japanese  torpedo  boats,  any  one  of  which  could 
have  been  carried  on  the  decks  of  their  victims 
without  any  inconvenience. 

So  mere  size  is  by  no  means  everything.  Yet 
there  are  certain  qualities  that  cannot  be  secured 
in  a  small  vessel,  nor  in  maximum  degree  even 
with  a  boat  of  sixteen  thousand  tons.  And  the 
lesson  taught  by  the  Japanese  torpedo  boats  was 
not  thought  to  be  definitive;  for,  as  we  shall  see, 
the  trend  of  naval  development  in  the  decade 
following  the  Kusso-Japanese  War  was  strongly 
in  the  direction  of  increasing  the  size  of  the  battle 
ships.  We  shall  learn  in  a  later  chapter  that 
within  a  few  years  of  the  time  when  the  Con- 
necticut was  launched  warships  were  building 
that  were  not  far  from  double  her  tonnage,  a  full 

[221] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

third  longer,  and  bearing  a  major  baittery  of 
twelve  fourteen-inch  guns  as  against  the  Connecti- 
cut's four  guns  of  twelve-inch  caliber. 

The  line  of  reasoning  that  has  fostered  this 
development  will  be  more  fully  revealed  as  we 
proceed. 


[222] 


THE  BATTLE  SHIP  OF  TO-DAY 

THE  nature  of  injuries  sustained  by  the  Rus- 
sian battle  ship  Cesarevitch  and  the  un- 
armored  cruiser  Askold  in  the  battle  of  Au- 
gust 10th,  1904,  both  these  ships  being  the  center 
of  attack  by  a  superior  number  of  Japanese  boats 
of  their  own  class  for  several  hours,  are  most 
interesting. 

But  perhaps  the  most  significant  fact,  as  well 
as  the  most  interesting,  is  that  they  escaped,  and 
finally  made  their  ways  to  neutral  ports.  "  Con- 
sidering the  length  of  time  that  the  engagement 
in  its  various  phases  lasted, "  says  a  naval  writer, 
"  and  the  vivacity  of  the  fire  directed  at  the 
Russian  ships,  it  is  truly  astonishing  that  they 
were  not  hit  more  often. ' '  And  this  opinion  must 
be  shared  by  every  thoughtful  person,  taught  to 
regard  modern  gunnery  as  almost  an  exact  science. 

The  Cesarevitch,  whose  ultimate  fate  is  told  in 
another  chapter,  was  a  good  representative  of 
the  high-class  modern  battle  ship.  During  the 
battle  she  was  hit  some  fifteen  times  by  twelve- 
inch  projectiles,  and  a  much  greater  number  of 
times  by  smaller  ones.  The  effect  of  these  smaller 
projectiles  was  so  slight  that  they  need  not  be 
considered  here;  but  the  position  and  effects  of 

[223] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

the  heavier  ones  are  instructive.    The  armor  of 
each  turret  was  hit  once,  and  not  damaged. 

Three  shells  struck  and  injured  the  funnels, 
interfering  with  the  steaming  of  the  vessel  to  a 
certain  extent.  One  struck  the  side  of  the  ship 
below  the  position  of  a  turret,  tore  a  hole  three 
and  one-half  feet  square  in  the  side  plating,  but 
did  little  damage.  Another  pierced  the  vessel 
near  the  bow  on  a  level  with  the  upper  deck,  mak- 
ing a  large  hole,  but  otherwise  producing  no  ef- 
fect. One  shell  destroyed  the  foremost  chart 
house;  another  tore  the  railing  from  the  upper 
deck,  shattering  the  planking  of  the  deck,  but  not 
setting  it  on  fire.  The  roof  of  one  turret  was 
struck  by  a  shell  close  to  the  sighting  hood.  The 
hood  was  slightly  bulged,  the  man  inside  stunned 
for  a  few  minutes,  and  a  man  inside  the  turret 
killed  by  a  flying  rivet  loosened  by  the  impact. 

One  shell  struck  the  ship  six  feet  below  the 
water  line,  bending  plates  and  frames,  but  not 
tearing  or  injuring  them  severely,  although  some 
one  hundred  and  fifty  tons  of  water  was  admitted 
into  a  compartment. 

The  conning  tower  was  struck,  and  five  men  in 
it  killed  and  two  wounded.  Another  shot  struck 
the  foot  of  the  foremast,  damaging  it  severely, 
killing  Bear-Admiral  Vithoft,  and  killing  and 
wounding  eighteen  other  officers  and  men.  Two 
other  shells  splintered  some  boats  and  deck  tim- 
bers, but  did  trifling  damage. 

It  is  apparent,  therefore,  that  the  Japanese 
shells  did  relatively  little  damage. 

[224] 


THE  BATTLE  SHIP  OF  TO-DAY 

11  In  spite  of  the  wooden  decks  and  of  all  the 
boats  being  inboard,  the  effect  of  splinters  was 
very  small,  and  the  wooden  decks  were  not  set 
on  fire.  Fragments  of  shell  fell  down  the  after 
funnel  and  damaged  some  of  the  superheated 
tubes.  The  effect  of  the  gases  from  the  bursting 
of  the  high-explosive  shells  was  serious.  Many 
men  who  had  received  no  direct  wound  suffered 
twenty-four  hours  after  the  action  from  stupor, 
giddiness,  loss  of  memory,  and  headache.  The 
hair,  beard,  and  sometimes  the  skin  of  those  who 
were  near  such  a  shell  when  it  burst  were  stained 
a  deep  yellow.  The  same  coloring  effect  was  also 
noticed  on  the  parts  of  the  ship  near  which  the 
bursting  occurred.  The  Cesarevitch  fired  seventy- 
four  or  seventy-five  rounds  from  her  fore  turret, 
forty  to  forty-five  rounds  from  her  after  turret, 
and  from  five  hundred  and  eighty  to  six  hundred 
from  the  six-inch  guns." 

It  is  evident  that  most  of  the  shots  fired  passed 
over  the  vessel,  and  from  this  the  conclusion  may 
be  drawn  that  if  the  Cesarevitch  had  been  a  mon- 
itor type  of  boat,  with  scarcely  anything  but 
turrets  and  funnels  above  the  water  line,  she 
would  have  escaped  practically  unscathed.  This 
at  once  raises  the  question  as  to  whether  the  mon- 
itors are  not  even  now  the  most  formidable  boats 
afloat,  under  certain  conditions;  and  there  seems 
little  doubt  that  in  calm  waters,  such  as  those  of 
harbors  and  harbor  entrances,  they  are  most  dan- 
gerous fighting  craft.  It  is  to  be  noted  that  in 
the  contest  between  the  Germans  and  the  Allies 

[225] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

along  the  Belgian  coast  in  October,  1914,  British 
monitors  came  in  close  to  the  shore  and  shelled 
the  German  land  batteries  effectively. 

Even  more  astonishing  than  the  escape  of  the 
battle  ship  Cesarevitch  in  the  battle  of  August 
10th  was  that  of  the  unarmored  cruiser  Askold, 
which  was  exposed  for  some  time  to  the  concen- 
trated fire  of  no  less  than  seven  Japanese  ships, 
most  of  them  unarmored  cruisers  like  herself, 
but  one,  at  least,  an  armored  vessel.  In  the  ear- 
lier part  of  the  action  the  Askold  had  been  hit 
twice,  first  by  a  twelve-inch  shell,  which  burst 
above  the  deck  near  the  foremost  funnel,  killing 
an  officer  who  was  working  the  range  finder  on 
the  bridge.  This  shell  also  tore  some  plates  off 
the  funnel,  so  that  two  boilers  were  eventually 
put  out  of  commission.  The  other  shell,  ricochet- 
ting  off  the  water,  landed  in  some  ammunition  for 
the  three-inch  guns  and  exploded  some  of  it,  but 
did  no  further  damage. 

Later  in  the  fight  the  Askold  broke  through  the 
Japanese  fleet,  drawing  the  fire  of  the  seven  ves- 
sels just  referred  to.  Fourteen  large  projectiles, 
and  a  great  number  of  small  ones,  struck  her. 
Two  of  her  five  funnels  were  shot  away,  her  boats 
were  riddled,  and  her  hull  pierced.  An  eight-inch 
shell  struck  her  exactly  on  the  water  line,  tore  a 
hole  two  feet  and  a  half  square  in  the  outer  skin, 
but  did  no  other  damage.  Three  other  eight-inch 
shells  made  holes  in  her  sides  and  wrecked  officers' 
cabins,  yet  her  fighting  ability  was  scarcely  im- 
paired at  all;  and  she  is  believed  to  have  put  out 

[226] 


THE  BATTLE  SHIP  OF  TO-DAY 

of  action  the  Japanese  cruiser  Yakumo  before  she 
outran  the  fleet  and  made  her  way  to  Shanghai. 

Thus  the  unarmored  Askoldj  receiving  prac- 
tically the  same  punishment  as  the  heavily 
armored  Cesarevitch,  was  also  able  to  shake  off 
her  pursuers  and  escape. 

This  feat  called  for  the  serious  consideration 
of  naval  constructors  all  over  the  world.  It 
raised  the  question  as  to  whether  the  fighting  ship 
is  to  be  a  *  *  fort  "  or  a  "  weapon  ' ' — an  invulnera- 
ble wall  of  steel,  constructed  at  the  sacrifice  of 
speed  and  projectile-throwing  power,  or  a  less 
protected  but  faster  and  more  powerfully  armed 
fighting  machine. 

But  the  great  lesson  of  the  Eusso- Japanese  War 
on  the  sea  was  to  be  learned  from  the  final  strug- 
gle which  was  to  be  recorded  in  history  as  the 
battle  of  the  Sea  of  Japan.  From  this  battle, 
more  than  all  the  other  engagements  of  the  war, 
the  value  of  modern  fighting  craft  and  fighting 
methods  was  to  be  learned.  Old  theories  were  to 
be  confirmed,  new  ones  developed,  and,  curiously 
enough,  very  few  recent  ones  overthrown. 

First  of  all,  the  old,  old  principle  of  the  value 
of  experience  was  to  be  demonstrated  again,  as  it 
has  been  so  often  before.  In  the  previous  battles, 
as  we  have  seen,  the  Japanese  gunnery  was  sur- 
prisingly bad.  Boats  made  their  escape  through 
their  lines  of  battle  at  a  range  at  which  they 
should  have  been  blown  to  pieces.  But  on  the  day 
of  the  battle  of  the  Sea  of  Japan  this  was  not 
repeated.  The  little  Japanese  gunners  were  now 

[227] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

veterans.  Firing,  if  anything,  more  deliberately 
than  in  previous  battles,  their  marksmanship  was 
far  better  than  ever  before,  completely  outclass- 
ing their  novice  opponents,  putting  ship  after  ship 
out  of  commission  with  methodical  regularity. 

Six  months  before  they  were  not  able  to  do 
this ;  but  now  they  had  learned  their  trade. 

' '  Of  bravery, ' '  says  a  Japanese  officer,  in  speak- 
ing of  the  comparison  between  the  two  opposing 
fleets,  "  there  was  no  difference  on  either  side." 
But  bravery  without  experience  avails  little 
against  bravery  plus  experience. 

And  had  the  inexperienced  Kussian  fleet  been 
twice  its  size  it  is  probable  that  the  story  of  defeat 
would  have  been  the  same.  For  it  seems  to  be 
as  true  in  fighting  on  the  ocean  with  a  fleet  of 
vessels  as  it  is  in  individual  combats  of  any  kind 
that  experience  is  largely  the  determining  factor. 

A  well-known  pugilist,  being  told  of  the  fighting 
prowess  of  an  aspiring  young  giant  much  larger 
and  stronger  than  himself,  asked  the  simple  ques- 
tion: "  How  long  has  he  been  in  this  fighting 
game?  " 

"  About  a  year,"  someone  told  him. 

"  Then  I  can  beat  him,"  said  the  veteran.  "  I 
can  beat  any  man  who  has  only  been  in  the  business 
that  length  of  time,  no  matter  how  big  or  how 
strong  he  is.  He  hasn't  had  time  to  learn  his 
trade."  And  a  few  weeks  later  he  demonstrated 
the  truth  of  his  statement. 

And  so  at  the  battle  of  the  Sea  of  Japan  the 
veteran  fighters  beat  down  their  novice  opponents, 

[228] 


THE  BATTLE  SHIP  OF  TO-DAY 

dealing  them  blow  after  blow,  and  receiving  little 
injury  in  return.  Eight  Russian  battle  ships  en- 
tered the  fight.  Of  these,  three  were  sunk  by  gun 
fire,  two  surrendered,  and  three  were  torpedoed 
in  the  night,  after  being  severely  battered.  Of  the 
three  coast-defense  ships,  one  was  sunk  by  gun 
fire  and  two  were  captured.  The  three  armored 
cruisers  were  torpedoed  in  the  night.  Three  of 
the  four  lighter  cruisers  escaped,  the  fourth  being 
sunk  by  fire.  Of  the  seven  destroyers,  four  were 
sunk,  one  was  captured,  and  two  escaped. 

But  the  notable  thing  of  this  engagement  was 
the  rapidity  with  which  the  Japanese  gunners 
struck  down  their  opponents.  Ammunition  was 
wasted,  of  course,  as  it  must  always  be,  but  to 
no  such  extent  as  in  the  preceding  battles,  nota- 
bly that  of  August  10th. 

Of  the  other  things  demonstrated  by  this  great 
sea  battle  it  may  be  said  that  there  were  few 
surprises  for  naval  men,  but  rather  a  confirmation 
of  their  theories.  It  was  shown  conclusively  that 
speed  is  an  important  quality  of  a  fighting  ship; 
and  it  was  shown  also  that  large  battle  ships, 
equipped  with  many  large  guns,  would  be  superior 
to  the  ordinary  type,  with  a  few  heavy  guns,  a  few 
more  of  intermediate  size  (such  as  the  eight-inch 
guns),  still  more  of  the  five-  and  six-inch  sizes, 
and  a  great  number  of  smaller  rapid-fire  guns. 

Indeed,  the  effect  of  this  battle  was  to  discredit 
the  intermediate  type  of  guns  on  battle  ships. 

Some  remarks  on  our  navy  and  the  lessons 
of  this  battle  were  made  not  long  after  the  event 

[229] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

by  Captain  Bichard  Wainwright,  of  the  United 
States  Navy,  which  are  peculiarly  interesting,  as 
coming  from  a  veteran  of  the  Spanish- American 
War,  who  distinguished  himself  as  commander  of 
the  spectacular  little  Gloucester  at  the  battle  of 
Santiago. 

"  The  displacement  of  our  battle  ships,"  says 
Captain  Wainwright,  "  like  those  of  other  naval 
powers,  has  been  steadily  increasing,  and  in- 
creased displacement  has  many  logical  opponents, 
for  sometimes  the  increased  size  has  brought 
greater  cost  without  commensurate  increase  in 
power.  Neglecting  the  Maine  and  Texas,  as  they 
were  experiments  and  not  over-successful  ones, 
our  first  type  of  battle  ship  was  of  ten  thousand 
tons,  and  this  has  been  increased  to  thirteen  and 
now  to  sixteen  thousand  tons  (a  few  years  later 
to  about  thirty  thousand).  The  first  type,  the 
Indiana  class,  carried  four  heavy  guns,  and  the 
latest  type  carry  the  same  number.  Now  there 
have  been  many  improvements  in  guns,  armor, 
and  equipments  that  make  the  latest  type  much 
stronger  than  the  first,  but  we  are  considering 
increase  in  size  only. ' ' 

The  first  increase  in  size  gave  a  large  increase 
in  the  intermediate  battery  power;  but  there  are 
not  many  who  now  believe  that  the  gain  in  power 
of  a  Connecticut  over  a  modern  ship  of  similar 
design  to  the  Iowa  is  sufficient  to  pay  for  increased 
cost  of  construction  and  maintenance.  Many  have 
claimed  that  more  units  were  better  than  a  few 
large  vessels,  and  this  claim  was  not  difficult  to 

[230] 


THE  BATTLE  SHIP  OF  TO-DAY 

sustain  when  the  small  battle  ship  carried  the 
same  number  of  guns  as  the  large  ones. 

"  The  introduction  of  the  intermediate  battery 
was  logical,  as  at  the  time  it  was  developed  the 
primary  battery  guns  were  very  slow  in  firing 
and  extremely  slow  in  hitting.  With  insecure 
sights  and  brown  powder,  turrets  were  not  in- 
struments of  precision.  As  there  were  large  areas 
of  the  ships  that  were  either  lightly  armored  or 
unarmored,  the  intermediate  rapid-fire  guns  were 
introduced,  for  they  had  sufficient  power  to  injure 
the  personnel  and  even  to  diminish,  to  a  large 
degree,  the  efficiency  of  the  ship  by  the  destruc- 
tion of  soft  ends.  Then  came  more  light  armor 
to  protect  the  intermediate  battery,  with  the  neces- 
sary increase  in  displacement. 

"  Since  we  have  been  developing  larger  battle 
ships,  the  power  of  hitting  with  the  big  guns  has 
been  increasing  by  leaps  and  bounds.  All  ord- 
nance material  has  improved  and  the  training  of 
officers  and  men  has  become  scientific.  Now  the 
heaviest  guns  can  be  fired  as  rapidly  as  the  inter- 
mediate guns  could  be  fired  formerly,  and  with 
them  they  make  more  hits  than  the  lighter  guns 
could  make  in  earlier  times.  The  old  theories  of 
a  *  smothering  fire  '  and  '  a  greater  number  of 
units  '  must  be  allowed  to  die;  as  one  or  two  hits 
from  the  big  guns  can  destroy  soft  ends  and 
wreck  weak  battery  spaces,  and  such  guns  only 
are  able  to  attack  the  life  of  the  ship.  Look  at 
the  Orel!  What  use  is  there  in  having  a  large 
intermediate  battery  if  its  power  is  destroyed 

[231] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

before  the  ship  can  come  into  effective  range  of 
the  lighter  guns?  " 

The  last  sentence  shows  the  attitude  of  the  naval 
experts  towards  the  equipment  of  the  battle  ship, 
and  their  views  have  been  substantiated  in  actual 
battle  in  the  Far  East.  The  argument  must  ap- 
peal to  anyone.  If  a  battle  ship,  keeping  out 
of  range  of  the  smaller  guns  of  her  enemy,  had 
the  advantage  of  two  to  one  in  her  heavy  long- 
range  guns,  it  is  obvious  that  she  can  deliver  two 
shots  of  heavy  metal  to  her  opponent's  one. 

In  such  a  case,  no  matter  how  superior  the  in- 
termediate and  secondary  batteries  of  her  enemy, 
she  might  be  able  to  keep  her  advantage  and 
finally  decide  the  issue  simply  by  keeping  at  long 
range. 

This  view  was  held  before  the  Eusso-Japanese 
War,  and  the  actions  of  that  war  showed  that  the 
view  was  correct.  How  impressive  the  lessons  of 
the  war  have  been  is  shown  by  the  action  of  the 
British  Admiralty  as  soon  as  the  war  closed. 
Holding  the  advantage  of  all  other  neutral  powers 
by  having  representatives  on  some  of  the  Japanese 
boats,  observing  the  various  features  of  the  bat- 
tles, this  body  had  been  so  impressed  with  the  re- 
ports of  these  representatives  as  to  the  advan- 
tage of  the  proposed  new  type  of  battle  ship  that 
the  plans  for  such  a  boat,  to  be  called  the  ~D read- 
nought  y  were  drawn  at  once,  and  the  vessel  was 
soon  under  construction. 

A  report  published  in  the  New  York  Tribune 
at  the  time  of  the  launching  of  this  great  ship 

[232] 


THE  BATTLE  SHIP  OF  TO-DAY 

(1906)  gives  some  idea  of  the  novel  features  of 
her  construction  and  what  was  expected  of  her  as 
a  fighting  craft. 

DREADNOUGHTS  AND  SUPERDEEADNOUGHTS 

"  The  launch  of  the  Dreadnought,  in  the  largest 
and  most  powerful  of  the  world's  navies,  marks 
the  first  stage  in  what  the  British  Admiralty  says 
is  the  greatest  achievement  in  naval  construction. 
On  October  2,  1905,  work  was  begun  at  Ports- 
mouth on  the  vessel,  the  first  of  what  is  to  be 
known  as  the  Dreadnought  class.  The  promise 
was  made  then  that  she  would  be  launched  within 
six  months.  The  Admiralty  has  more  than  made 
good  the  boast,  and  the  British  have  another  cause 
for  pride  in  their  navy. 

"  There  are  two  reasons  why  work  is  being 
rushed  on  the  Dreadnought.  One  is  the  great  sav- 
ing in  cost,  but  the  chief  reason  is  that  the  ship 
is  to  some  extent  an  experiment,  and  it  is  desired 
to  give  her  a  careful  trial  before  beginning  con- 
struction on  any  more  of  her  class.  Great  Britain, 
it  will  be  remembered,  was  the  only  power  having 
attaches  or  observers  on  Japanese  boats  in  the 
Eusso-Japanese  War,  while  expert  British  con- 
structors had  every  opportunity  of  learning 
wherein  the  ships  of  Japan  proved  weak  or  strong. 
These  men  were  busy  from  start  to  finish  of  the 
war,  and  immediately  after  the  battle  of  the  Sea 
of  Japan  came  home  with  their  data,  which  were 
submitted  with  suggestions  to  a  special  committee 

[233] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

on  which  sat  not  only  the  most  experienced  naval 
experts,  but  the  director  of  naval  construction, 
Lord  Kelvin,  and  a  number  of  the  leading  private 
shipbuilders. 

"  The  Dreadnought  is  the  outcome  of  their  de- 
liberations, an  embodiment  of  the  lessons  of  the 
recent  war  in  the  Far  East,  a  ship  apparently  in- 
vincible, capable  at  one  discharge  of  her  guns  of 
throwing  twice  as  much  metal  as  any  foreign  war- 
ship now  afloat,  while  her  armor  is  expected  to 
render  her  safe  from  attacks  of  any  enemy's  guns, 
and  some  say  even  from  torpedoes,  fired  at  the 
usual  battle  range.  The  details  of  the  Dread- 
nought's construction  remain  a  secret,  so  well  has 
the  Admiralty  guarded  the  plans.  Efforts  of 
naval  attaches  to  gather  information  for  their 
governments  have  been  fruitless.  The  answer  to 
all  inquiries  is  the  candid  one  that  Great  Britain 
intends  to  maintain  secrecy  in  regard  to  what  her 
experts  learned  as  the  result  of  Japan's  experi- 
ences for  one  year.  By  rushing  to  completion  the 
Dreadnought  England  will  gain  a  year,  if  not 
more,  in  naval  construction  over  all  other  powers 
except  her  ally.  Usually,  when  ships  are  building, 
a  board  is  placed  at  the  head  of  the  ship,  giving 
her  name,  displacement,  principal  dimensions, 
horse  power,  and  speed.  In  the  case  of  the 
Dreadnought,  not  an  item  in  the  design  is  revealed, 
the  board  containing  the  single  sentence:  '  His 
Majesty's  ship  Dreadnought,  commenced  October 
2nd,  1905.' 

"  When  ready  for  sea  the  ship  will  displace 
[234] 


THE  BATTLE  SHIP  OF  TO-DAY 

eighteen  thousand  five  hundred  tons,  but  this  is 
the  least  remarkable  thing  about  her,  for,  besides 
the  ideas  introduced  as  a  result  of  the  Far  Eastern 
war,  Britain  is  placing  on  her  new  fighting  ma- 
chine the  heaviest  armament  ever  carried  by  a 
ship.  Former  British  battle  ships  have  carried 
four  twelve-inch  guns,  throwing  eight-hundred- 
and-fifty-pound  shells.  The  Dreadnought  will 
have  ten  of  these  weapons,  with  a  muzzle  energy 
of  forty-nine  thousand  five  hundred  and  sixty- 
eight,  as  compared  with  the  thirty-three  thousand 
six  hundred  and  twenty-two  of  the  guns  carried 
in  as  recent  battle  ships  as  the  Majestic  class.  The 
Dreadnought  will  be  able  to  discharge  ten  pro- 
jectiles weighing  eight  thousand  five  hundred 
pounds  with  sufficient  velocity  to  send  them 
twenty-five  miles.  Unlike  all  British  and  foreign 
battle  ships  built  in  the  last  thirty  years,  the  new 
addition  to  the  fleet  will  carry  no  weapon  smaller 
than  the  great  twelve-inch  piece,  except  eighteen 
three-inch  quick-firers  for  repelling  the  attacks  of 
torpedo  craft.  She  will  not  mount  nine-and-two- 
tenths-inch,  seven-and-two-tenths-inch,  or  six-inch 
guns ;  she  will  be  the  biggest  warship  afloat,  and 
she  will  have  only  the  biggest  and  most  powerful 
guns. 

i '  The  secrets  which  will  be  incorporated  in  the 
huge  hull  are  still  hidden,  but  it  is  known  that  they 
tend  to  economy  as  well  as  efficiency.  The  Dread- 
nought will  cost  ten  per  cent,  less  than  recent  bat- 
tle ships  of  British  build,  although  she  will  repre- 
sent the  last  word  in  all  details  of  her  construc- 

[235] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

tion.  She  will  be  the  first  battle  ship  in  the  world 
to  be  driven  by  turbines.  These  engines  will  sup- 
ply the  power  for  four  propellers,  two  more  than 
any  previously  built  British  battle  ship,  which 
should  make  her  the  fastest  ship  of  her  class 
afloat.  Another  advantage  of  the  turbines,  as 
shown  by  the  performances  of  the  Carmania,  is 
that  the  gunners  will  have  a  steadier  deck  from 
which  to  handle  the  guns. 

6 '  Writing  of  the  fleet  as  it  will  be  when  the 
Dreadnought  joins  it,  a  naval  expert  said  recently : 
4  Nothing  as  devastating  as  this  concentrated  de- 
struction has  ever  been  conceived  in  the  brain  of 
man.  It  is  impossible  to  picture  the  result  of  one 
minute's  well-directed  fire  at  an  enemy's  ships, 
and  when  one  minute  is  followed  by  others,  the 
effect  would  be  too  terrible  for  words,  presuming 
the  gunners  get  the  range  and  fire  as  at  target 
practice.  To  this  length  has  the  contest  for  sea 
power  gone,  and  this  is  not  the  end,  for  the  time 
is  not  far  distant  when  the  British  ensign  will 
fly  over  fleets  and  squadrons  of  dreadnoughts, 
vessels  costing  a  million  and  a  half  sterling  or 
more,  each  with  ten  or  twelve  twelve-inch  guns, 
which  will  engage  an  antagonist  when  three  or 
four  miles  distant,  and  will  pour  a  succession  of 
shells,  each  weighing  eight  hundred  and  fifty 
pounds  and  carrying  wholesale  destruction  in  its 
wake.'  " 

To  those  familiar  with  the  battle  records  of  the 
Far  East,  this  last  note  of  alarm  as  to  the  terrible 
destruction  of  life  likely  to  be  effected  by  this 

[236] 


THE  BATTLE  SHIP  OF  TO-DAY 

new  fighting  machine  will  not  be  taken  too  seri- 
ously, but  rather  in  a  relative  sense.  The  same 
thing  has  been  said  of  practically  every  new  type 
of  war  vessel  devised  in  recent  years;  yet  the 
battle  of  the  Sea  of  Japan  was  no  more  sanguinary 
than  Trafalgar  or  the  battle  of  the  Nile.  De- 
fensive methods  always  keep  pace  more  or  less 
with  offensive. 

It  was  evident,  however,  that  England  had 
stolen  a  march  on  all  other  naval  powers  and  had 
now  the  most  wonderful  fighting  machine  afloat. 
But  other  nations  quickly  followed  the  lead.  The 
United  States,  for  example,  soon  authorized  the 
building  of  two  battle  ships  on  very  much  the  same 
lines  as  the  Dreadnought,  namely,  the  Michigan 
and  the  South  Carolina;  each  of  sixteen  thousand 
tons,  equipped  with  eight  twelve-inch  guns.  These 
were  completed  in  1909.  There  followed  three 
others,  the  North  Dakota,  the  Delaware,  and  the 
Florida;  the  first  two  of  twenty  thousand  tons 
each,  the  other  of  twenty-one  thousand  eight  hun- 
dred and  twenty-five  tons,  each  having  a  major 
battery  of  ten  twelve-inch  guns. 

And  so  well  pleased  were  the  authorities  with 
these  vessels  of  dreadnought  type  that,  still  fol- 
lowing the  example  of  England,  plans  were  at  once 
under  consideration  for  the  construction  of  yet 
larger  battle  ships,  which  came  to  be  known  as 
superdreadnoughts. 

The  American  vessels  of  this  type  include  the 
New  York  and  the  Texas,  with  displacement  of 
twenty-seven  thousand  tons,  with  batteries  of  ten 
I  237  ] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

fourteen-inch  and  twenty-two  five-inch  guns;  fol- 
lowed by  the  Nevada  and  Oklahoma,  with  esti- 
mated tonnage  not  far  from  thirty  thousand,  and 
designed  to  carry  twelve  fourteen-inch  guns- 
ships  five  hundred  and  seventy-five  feet  in  length 
and  one  of  them  of  ninety-five-foot  beam;  and 
the  Pennsylvania,  six  hundred  feet  in  length  and 
of  ninety-seven  foot  beam,  and  a  draught  of 
twenty-eight  feet  ten  inches. 

Such  is  the  superdreadnought,  a  type  of  sea 
monster  with  which  the  chief  navies  of  the  world 
were  soon  equipped.  By  comparison,  they  make 
the  largest  warships  of  a  single  decade  before 
seem  but  feeble  craft. 

Nor  is  there  any  possibility  that  even  these 
steel  leviathans  represent  finality  in  the  type  of 
battle  ship.  No  type  of  boat  has  been  considered 
supreme  for  more  than  five  years  at  any  period 
during  the  last  thirty  years  of  naval  progress. 
Yet  the  time  must  come  inevitably  when  either 
some  general  size,  form,  and  armament  will  be 
found  to  be  the  nearest  approach  to  the  ideal  for 
battle  ships,  or  else  that  the  type  must  change 
entirely.  It  seems  highly  improbable  that  the 
size  of  warships  will  continue  to  increase  as  rap- 
idly for  the  next  twenty  years  as  they  have  during 
the  last;  yet  it  is  by  no  means  certain  that  they 
will  not.  There  seems  to  be  practically  no  limit 
to  the  size  of  merchant  vessels,  and  the  same 
thing  may  apply  to  fighting  craft. 

A  thing  that  is  more  likely  to  check  the  building 
Of  the  great  vessels  is  the  development  of  some 

[238] 


THE  BATTLE  SHIP  OF  TO-DAY 

other  fighting  machine  that  will  make  it  undesira- 
ble to  "  put  too  many  eggs  into  one  basket, "  as 
the  naval  men  express  it.  Some  perfected  sub- 
mersible might  change  the  present  tendency  for 
building  larger  and  larger  battle  ships;  or  some 
perfected  torpedo,  aerial,  or  submarine,  some  won- 
derful armor-piercing  projectile,  or  one  of  a  dozen 
now  unsuspected  things,  may  produce  the  same 
effect.  Sooner  or  later  this  must  come,  of  course, 
for  there  is  no  such  thing  as  stasis  in  naval 
affairs. 

We  cannot  hope  to  gain  much  insight  into  the 
possibilities  of  the  future  of  modern  vessels  by 
looking  at  their  histories  in  the  past,  since  the 
difference  in  the  boats  themselves  and  their 
equipment  is  so  great;  yet  if  there  is  any  lesson 
to  be  learned  from  such  a  study,  it  is  that  the 
great  ocean  battle  monster  will  be  supplanted. 
The  Greeks  increased  the  size  of  their  fighting 
boats  until  they  were  huge  barges,  having  tiers  of 
rowers — forty  of  such  tiers  sometimes,  we  are 
told.  Yet  a  change  in  methods  of  sea  fighting  by 
the  Eomans  eventually  made  such  huge  boats  all 
but  useless.  Again  in  the  Middle  Ages  the  change 
of  the  shape  of  oars,  putting  more  than  one  man 
to  each  oar,  revolutionized  the  shape  of  sea  fight- 
ers; and  later  the  coming  of  gunpowder  revived 
the  many-decked  boat,  the  decks  now  being  oc- 
cupied with  cannon  instead  of  oarsmen.  Deck 
upon  deck  was  added  to  these  new  fighting  ships, 
until  they  were  veritable  "  skyscrapers  "  in  the 
nautical  world. 

[  239  J 


MODERN  WARFARE 

Then  the  steam  engine  was  invented,  speed  be- 
came a  desideratum,  and  again  the  lower  type  of 
boat  became  popular.  These  were  assuming  huge 
proportions,  however,  when  the  little  Monitor, 
small  enough  almost  to  be  carried  on  the  deck  of 
some  of  the  great  wooden  boats,  in  a  single  day 
made  them  an  obsolete  type. 

And  so  it  may  be  that  the  superdreadnoughts 
will  prove  to  be  the  last  of  a  quickly  developed 
type;  and  even  before  the  newest  vessels  of  the 
type  are  ready  for  sea  they  may  belong  to  an 
obsolete  class.  The  performance  of  the  peculiar- 
shaped  Monitor,  it  will  be  recalled,  stopped  the 
work  on  a  great  number  of  vessels  then  on  the 
way  in  the  foreign  shipyards,  as  the  types  under 
construction  were  shown  to  be  obsolescent;  and 
at  any  time  this  same  thing  may  be  repeated.  The 
early  developments  of  the  great  war  in  Europe  in 
the  autumn  of  1914  suggest  that  the  submarine, 
rather  than  the  battle  ship,  may  claim  chief  atten- 
tion of  the  naval  experts  of  the  coming  decade. 
But  any  forecast  based  on  these  events  must  be 
held  as  strictly  tentative.  The  crippling  of  the 
superdreadnought  Audacious  proved  that  these 
vessels  are  vulnerable  below  the  water  line; 
but  their  destructive  capacity  is  unquestionably 
enormous,  and  it  may  readily  chance  that  in  an 
open  sea  fight  they  would  give  an  account  of  them- 
selves fully  justifying  the  confidence  reposed  in 
them  by  their  builders. 


[240] 


XI 
GRAPPLING  WITH  DISEASE 

IT  is  pretty  generally  understood  that  bullets 
are  by  no  means  the  most  dangerous  enemies 
of  an  army.  The  records  show  that  in  most 
wars  during  the  past  century  only  about  one  man 
in  fifty  died  from  gunshot  wounds.  Yet  the  total 
number  of  deaths  reached  the  proportion  of  one 
in  ten,  on  an  average.  Obviously,  then,  there  is 
some  enemy  of  the  soldier  at  least  four  times 
more  dangerous  than  his  human  antagonists.  And 
any  veteran,  even  of  a  single  campaign,  under- 
stands that  his  enemy — one  that  has  decided  many 
important  campaigns  in  history — is  disease. 

Yet,  paradoxical  as  it  may  seem  to  those  un- 
familiar with  the  difficulties  of  a  campaign,  the 
maladies  responsible  for  the  greatest  number  of 
deaths  among  soldiers  are  those  known  to  phy- 
sicians as  "  preventable  "  diseases. 

Even  if  all  these  things  were  generally  known, 
it  is  probable  that  in  the  excitement  of  impend- 
ing war  there  would  be  the  same  rush  of  patriotic 
volunteers  to  join  the  colors  against  an  enemy. 
Yet  there  would  be  a  natural  revulsion  on  the 
part  of  the  soldier  in  feeling  that  his  chances  of 
dying  ingloriously  in  a  hospital  of  some  loath- 
some disease  instead  of  on  the  battlefield  were 

[241] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

fully  four  to  one.  He  would  not  choose  such  a 
death  of  his  own  volition.  It  is  unjust,  but  nev- 
ertheless true,  that  the  simple  epitaph,  "  Died 
while  defending  his  country/'  conveys  the  mean- 
ing of  a  much  more  glorious  death  when  there  is 
added  ' '  in  battle, ' '  instead  of  '  '  of  disease. ' '  And 
the  time  is  at  hand  when,  knowing  as  we  do  now 
the  cause  of  most  diseases  and  the  simple  methods 
of  preventing  them,  the  soldier  and  his  friends 
who  remain  behind  will  not  observe  with  equanim- 
ity or  tolerate  the  record  of  disease  ravage  that 
has  made  war  more  than  doubly  terrible  in  the 
past. 

Disease  has  been  the  deciding  factor  in  many 
of  the  great  campaigns  in  history,  whether  those 
of  a  Pharaoh  in  Egypt,  a  Hannibal,  or  a  Napoleon. 
It  will  be  recalled  that  the  army  of  the  Assyrian, 
when  he  "came  down  like  a  wolf  on  the  fold," 
was  stricken  by  the  "  angel  of  God  "  and  deci- 
mated: in  short,  his  army  was  so  afflicted  by  dis- 
ease that  he  was  obliged  to  raise  the  siege  for 
want  of  fighting  men.  And  succeeding  centuries 
have  witnessed  similar  disasters. 

In  modern  times  cases  are  recorded  where  regi- 
ments were  exterminated  before  they  could  reach 
the  seat  of  war.  This  is  said,  on  good  authority, 
to  have  happened  in  the  Crimean  War,  when  in 
one  campaign  of  six  months  it  is  estimated  that, 
in  a  loss  of  fifty  thousand  men,  only  two  thousand 
died  from  bullets. 

Even  more  shocking  than  this  record  is  that 
of  the  French  in  the  Madagascar  campaign  of 

[242] 


GRAPPLING  WITH  DISEASE 

1894,  where,  out  of  fourteen  thousand  men  in  the 
field,  seven  thousand  died  of  disease,  while  only 
twenty-nine  were  killed  in  battle. 

In  the  Civil  War  a  little  less  than  the  propor- 
tion of  four  to  one  died  from  disease,  as  against 
those  killed  in  battle;  while  in  the  Franco- 
Prussian  War  the  Germans,  probably  for  the  first 
time  in  the  history  of  warfare,  made  the  remarka- 
ble record  of  having  fewer,  by  half,  die  from  dis- 
ease than  by  bullets.  Meanwhile  the  French  were 
being  weakened  day  by  day  by  the  ravages  of  the 
archenemy. 

When  the  Spanish- American  War  broke  out,  our 
own  progressive  country  was  so  ill  prepared  with 
modern  equipment  for  combating  disease  that  at 
the  end  of  a  hundred  days — about  six  weeks  of 
actual  fighting — some  three  hundred  men  had  been 
killed,  and  about  four  thousand  had  died  of  dis- 
ease, or  a  proportion  of  about  fourteen  to  one. 
The  West  had  not  profited  by  experience. 

Then  came  the  Eusso-Japanese  War,  in  which 
the  Oriental  armies  lost  but  one  man  from  disease 
to  every  four  killed  on  the  firing  line — an  abso- 
lutely unprecedented  record. 

And  yet  all  that  Japan  knew  of  the  methods  of 
preventing  disease  she  had  learned  from  Western 
nations.  She  made  no  discoveries  of  new  things 
or  methods  that  were  not  the  common  knowledge 
of  every  physician,  and  of  thousands  of  laymen. 
She  simply  put  into  practice  what  the  West  had 
taught  her. 

From  this  record  of  the  Japanese  army  it  will 
[243] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

be  seen  that  the  so-called  ' '  preventable  ' '  diseases 
are  really  preventable :  that  the  medical  man  was 
not  dreaming  the  dreams  of  the  visionary  when 
he  asserted  that  most  cases  of  malaria,  dysentery, 
smallpox,  and  above  all,  typhoid — the  bane  of 
every  army — could  be  prevented  even  in  large 
armies. 

There  are,  to  be  sure,  a  number  of  diseases  that 
cannot  be  prevented,  any  more  than  can  such 
cases  in  civil  life;  but  about  eighty  per  cent,  of 
all  diseases  that  affect  the  modern  army  are 
among  those  mentioned  and  properly  classed  as 
preventable  ones. 

The  two  great  causes  of  sickness  in  an  army, 
aside  from  wounds,  are  improper  diet  and  infec- 
tion by  disease  germs.  Frequently  the  first  of 
these  makes  it  possible  for  the  other  to  gain  a 
foothold,  so  that  the  improperly  fed  man  is  not 
only  subject  to  diseases  that  are  the  direct  out- 
come of  his  improper  diet,  but  is  also  rendered 
susceptible  to  the  disease  germ.  But  so  long  as 
there  was  no  means  of  supplying  armies  and 
navies  with  proper  forms  of  nourishment,  as  was 
the  case  until  recent  times,  these  things  were  in- 
evitable. 

Thus  before  the  days  of  canned  goods,  when  the 
preservation  of  perishables  was  not  well  under- 
stood, it  was  a  foregone  conclusion  that  cases  of 
scurvy  would  develop  among  the  members  of  the 
crews  of  ships  making  long  voyages.  But  since 
it  has  become  known  that  this  disease  is  caused 
solely  by  defects  of  diet,  and  now  that  vegetables 

[244] 


GRAPPLING  WITH  DISEASE 

of  every  description  can  be  kept  in  a  canned  state 
indefinitely,  scurvy  has  become  a  rare  disease. 

A  more  striking  example  of  what  may  be  accom- 
plished by  proper  diet  is  that  of  the  stamping 
out  of  beriberi  in  the  Japanese  navy.  For  a  long 
time  the  Japanese  scientists  had  been  convinced 
that  this  disease  in  their  armies  and  navy  was 
due  to  the  large  quantities  of  rice  eaten  by  the 
men,  to  the  exclusion  of  other  forms  of  food.  They 
based  their  beliefs  on  observation  as  well  as  on 
well-established  physiological  facts.  They  ob- 
served, for  example,  that  no  cases  of  beriberi 
developed  among  the  crews  of  foreign  vessels  sta- 
tioned for  years  in  Oriental  waters,  and  the  only 
perceptible  difference  in  the  treatment  of  these 
crews  from  those  on  their  own  boats  was  in  the 
matter  of  diet. 

It  was  subsequently  discovered  that  beriberi 
results  from  the  absence  of  a  substance  now 
known  as  vitamine,  which  is  found  in  the  husk  of 
the  rice,  and  which  is  removed  with  the  husk  when 
the  rice  is  polished.  It  was  not  the  rice  diet,  but 
the  use  of  rice  "  improved  "  by  polishing,  that 
was  responsible  for  the  disease. 

The  very  life  of  the  Japanese  nation  seemed 
to  depend  upon  the  efficiency  of  its  navy ;  and  yet, 
in  1882,  when  there  was  a  war  cloud  hanging  over 
the  Far  East  and  Japan  seemed  likely  to  be  drawn 
into  a  struggle  with  Korea,  five  of  the  Mikado's 
largest  war  vessels  were  all  but  useless,  owing  to 
the  fact  that  such  a  large  percentage  of  their  crews 
were  sick  with  beriberi. 

[245] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

At  this  time  the  Deputy  Medical  Inspector  Gen- 
eral of  the  navy  was  Doctor  Takaki — the  "  Jen- 
ner  "  of  the  Japanese  world.  He  had  studied  the 
subject  of  beriberi  carefully  and  had  reached 
some  very  definite  conclusions  as  to  its  cause,  but 
as  yet  had  had  no  way  of  thoroughly  testing  his 
theories.  But  his  chance  came  in  1883,  after  a 
protracted  cruise  of  the  warship  Ryujo,  lasting 
two  hundred  and  seventy-one  days,  during  which 
over  a  hundred  cases  of  the  disease  developed 
among  a  crew  of  three  hundred  and  fifty  persons. 

When  the  facts  of  this  voyage  became  known, 
Dr.  Takaki  asked  the  Minister  of  Marine  that  an- 
other similar  vessel  be  sent  over  the  same  course 
at  the  same  time  of  year,  the  regular  ration  of 
the  crew  being  changed  to  one  selected  by  Takaki. 
Fully  alive  to  the  importance  of  stamping  out  the 
disease,  and  having  great  confidence  in  his  medical 
officer,  the  Minister  consented,  and  the  Taukuba 
was  detailed  to  make  the  voyage. 

Starting  at  the  corresponding  time  of  the  year, 
and  making  the  same  stops  and  in  practically  the 
same  time  as  the  Ryujo,  the  Taukuba  completed 
the  voyage  without  any  serious  cases  of  the  dis- 
ease developing,  sixteen  mild  cases,  all  told,  being 
reported,  as  against  one  hundred  and  sixty  cases 
the  year  before  on  the  Ryujo. 

This  was  a  demonstration  that  admitted  of  no 
appeal  as  to  the  cause  of  the  disease  that  had 
scourged  the  Orient  for  so  long.  A  new  dietary 
was  adopted  at  once  in  the  navy,  cases  of  beriberi 
became  more  and  more  rare,  until,  by  1887,  the 

[246] 


GRAPPLING  WITH  DISEASE 

disease  had  disappeared,  despite  the  constant  in- 
crease in  the  number  of  men  in  the  fighting  force. 

During  the  Eusso-Japanese  War  the  full  com- 
plement of  able-bodied  fighting  men  was  kept  prac- 
tically at  one  hundred  per  cent.,  so  far  as  this 
disease  was  concerned. 

In  view  of  these  demonstrations  one  would  nat- 
urally suppose  that  the  progressive  Japanese 
army,  the  peer  of  any  army  in  the  world,  and  con- 
spicuous for  its  readiness  to  adopt  useful  innova- 
tions, would  have  followed  the  lead  of  the  navy 
and  changed  the  diet  so  as  to  wipe  out  this  disease. 
But  in  point  of  fact  beriberi  was  the  cause  of 
almost  one-half  of  the  cases  of  sickness  in  the 
army  during  the  Eusso-Japanese  War.  The  army 
had  adhered  to  the  old  diet,  despite  the  conclusive 
demonstration  in  the  navy,  and  although  a  tardy 
change  in  the  ration  was  made  towards  the  close 
of  the  war,  the  change  came  too  late  to  save  the 
one  stain  that  can  never  be  erased  from  the  other- 
wise clean  and  unparalleled  record  of  the  army 
surgeons  of  the  Mikado. 

But  scurvy  and  beriberi,  the  results  of  im- 
proper diet,  are  about  the  only  diseases  known  to 
be  directly  traceable  to  the  continued  use  of  im- 
proper food.  There  are  others,  however,  such  as 
the  numerous  germ-produced  intestinal  troubles, 
that  are  indirectly  induced  by  the  foods  them- 
selves, the  germ  finding  easy  entrance  to  a  system 
improperly  fed. 

In  Western  nations,  where  scurvy  has  disap- 
peared, and  where  beriberi  does  not  exist,  these 

[247] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

are  the  diseases  accountable  for  the  high  mortal- 
ity of  the  armies. 

As  every  one  knows,  the  so-called  germs  are 
microscopic  plants  which,  when  taken  into  the 
system  under  proper  conditions,  multiply  and  pro- 
duce diseases.  The  two  great  avenues  of  entrance 
are  the  respiratory  and  digestive  tracts.  There 
is  also  the  important  source,  the  skin,  through 
which  the  disease  germs  may  enter  the  system 
either  through  abrasions  or  by  the  action  of  cer- 
tain insects,  such  as  flies  and  mosquitoes.  If  the 
soldier  can  escape  contamination  from  these  few 
sources  he  incurs  relatively  little  danger  of  being 
sick  on  the  campaign. 

Like  all  other  forms  of  vegetable  life,  germs 
are  killed  or  rendered  inert  by  heating  to  the 
boiling  point  for  a  few  moments;  and  they  suc- 
cumb to  certain  chemicals  known  as  "  anti- 
septics." The  simple  process  of  cooking  or  boil- 
ing, therefore,  suffices  to  guard  against  the  action 
of  disease  germs  found  in  water  or  in  food. 
Cholera,  typhoid,  and  dysentery  may  thus  be  pre- 
vented, typhoid  being  the  most  fatal  of  these  to 
modern  armies,  and  its  germ  the  one  with  which 
drinking  water  is  most  likely  to  be  contaminated. 
The  wells  along  the  line  of  march  of  the  ordi- 
nary army  are  responsible  for  more  deaths  than 
the  enemy's  bullets.  Yet  theoretically  this  should 
not  be  so  if  the  soldier  is  aware  that  the  wells 
may  be  germ-poisoned,  or  that  he  can  purify  their 
water  by  boiling  it.  And  in  practice  the  Japanese 
have  shown  that  this  theory  is  correct.  The  record 

[248] 


GRAPPLING  WITH  DISEASE 

of  four  men  killed  to  every  one  that  died  of  dis- 
ease in  the  Eusso-Japanese  War  evidences  what 
the  scientist  in  the  laboratory  has  done  in  the  last 
quarter  of  a  century  to  ameliorate  the  condition 
of  the  fighting  soldier. 

Equipped  with  this  knowledge  of  the  cause  and 
means  of  prevention  of  the  diseases  most  common 
to  troops  in  the  field,  it  would  seem  that  every 
modern  army  should  be  able  to  eliminate  the  great 
factor  of  sickness  in  the  ranks  and  keep  a  far 
higher  percentage  of  men  fit  for  the  firing  line  all 
through  the  campaign.  But  Japan  was  the  first 
country  that  succeeded  in  putting  into  practice 
what  had  been  known  theoretically  for  a  consid- 
erable time.  The  United  States  did  not  do  so  in 
her  war  with  Spain;  England  failed  almost  as 
signally  in  the  later  war  with  the  Boers;  and 
Eussia  was  probably  even  less  fortunate  in  her 
last  war,  while  her  opponents  were  astonishing 
the  world.  England,  America,  and  Eussia  all 
knew  as  much  about  scientific  hygiene  as  Japan 
—had,  indeed,  taught  her  all  she  knew  of  the  sub- 
ject. Why,  then,  this  failure  on  their  part?  The 
answer  is  simply  that  they  did  not  get  around  to 
do  what  they  were  fully  aware  should  be  done. 
Perhaps  if  they  had  known  that  a  war  was  inevita- 
ble, and  had  known  it  for  ten  years,  as  Japan 
knew  in  the  case  of  the  approaching  war  with 
Eussia,  other  nations  would  have  duplicated  her 
remarkable  record  in  the  Far  East. 

Be  that  as  it  may,  Japan,  seeing  the  inevitable 
war  cloud  looming  larger  and  blacker,  laid  her 

[249] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

plans  to  carry  on  a  strictly  scientific  campaign. 
First  of  all  she  showed  her  faith  in  her  medical 
men  by  arming  them  with  authority;  and  then, 
after  instructing  her  men  to  obey  them  implicitly, 
she  explained  to  the  men  in  a  simple  but  convinc- 
ing manner  the  reason  for  this  obedience.  She  told 
them  why  they  should  not  drink  at  every  well  and 
pool  of  water ;  why  they  should  cook  certain  foods 
and  should  avoid  others  altogether ;  and  what  they 
should  do  in  a  general  way  to  avoid  all  manner  of 
diseases.  The  remarkable  thing  is,  not  that  the 
men  believed  what  they  were  told,  but  that  they 
obeyed.  The  little  books  of  instructions  issued  to 
the  soldiers  contain  some  simple  facts  and  sugges- 
tions that  could  be  read  profitably  by  any  person, 
soldier  or  civilian,  in  any  walk  of  life. 

"  Infectious  diseases  are  caused  by  the  poison 
getting  into  the  body  from  the  outside,  which  can 
be  prevented  by  proper  care,"  says  this  little 
book.  "  These  diseases  are  caused  by  micro- 
scopical objects  called  germs.  In  former  times 
the  number  of  deaths  from  these  diseases  ex- 
ceeded the  number  of  those  killed  in  battle.  There- 
fore, never  neglect  to  exercise  the  utmost  caution 
against  these  germs. 

"  The  infectious  disease  that  is  almost  always 
present  with  an  army  is  typhoid  fever.  This  is 
caused  from  germs  in  food  or  drink.  Therefore 
the  first  step  in  preventing  it  is  not  to  eat  raw 
things  and  not  to  drink  unboiled  water. 

"  The  means  of  preventing  dysentery  and 
cholera  are  almost  the  same  as  those  for  prevent- 

[  250  ] 


GRAPPLING  WITH  DISEASE 

ing  typhoid  fever.    Unripened  fruit  is  apt  to  pro- 
duce diarrhea,  therefore  be  very  careful  of  that. 

"  Plague  generally  comes  through  injuries  to 
the  skin.  Therefore  even  a  little  wound  should 
be  examined  by  a  physician.  Never  walk  with 
bare  feet,  as  rats  and  fleas  spread  this  disease: 
kill  them  or  drive  them  away. 

"  Malaria  is  spread  by  mosquitoes,  therefore 
protect  yourself  from  them  as  much  as  possible. " 

There  were  also  instructions  and  hints  as  to 
keeping  the  body  in  the  best  possible  condition 
to  resist  disease.  Bathing  was  especially  en- 
joined; and  when  this  was  found  impossible  at 
frequent  intervals,  the  men  were  instructed  to 
rub  every  part  of  the  body  with  a  dry  towel  at 
least  once  a  day.  They  were  instructed  to  keep 
the  hair  cut  short  and  wash  the  head  frequently, 
and  great  emphasis  was  laid  on  the  importance 
of  keeping  the  hands  and  feet  in  the  best  possible 
condition,  care  of  the  finger  nails  being  especially 
enjoined.  In  the  matter  of  dress,  elaborate  instruc- 
tions were  given,  including  the  care  of  clothing 
and  shoes,  and  reasons  that  would  appeal  to  the 
soldier  were  given  for  all  these  things. 

For  example,  the  saying  of  a  famous  com- 
mander was  quoted,  to  the  effect  that  the  key  to 
the  success  of  an  army  lies  in  the  condition  of 
the  feet. 

The  soldiers  were  instructed  never  to  expose 
the  head  to  the  direct  sunshine,  and  never  to  sleep 
on  damp  ground  if  it  was  possible  to  get  branches 
of  straw  to  cover  it.  They  were  warned  against 

[251] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

drinking  too  frequently  or  too  freely  on  the  march, 
and  were  given  such  useful  hints  as  that  of  hold- 
ing a  plum  or  a  straw  or  leaf  in  the  mouth  when 
no  water  was  available.  In  a  word,  they  were 
instructed  in  the  common-sense  rules  of  hygiene 
which  science  has  evolved.  All  this  was  a  direct 
help  to  the  soldier,  and  so  indirectly  an  aid  to 
the  medical  officer.  In  return  these  officers  used 
every  effort  to  make  it  possible  for  the  men  to 
carry  out  the  instructions. 

One  of  the  most  radical  innovations  introduced 
by  the  Japanese  was  the  placing  of  medical  of- 
ficers in  the  van  of  the  army. 

The  place  for  the  surgeons  since  time  im- 
memorial has  been  at  the  rear.  But  the  modern 
idea  of  prevention  rather  than  cure  has  been 
making  its  way  in  the  armies  as  well  as  among 
bodies  of  civilians,  and  the  surgeon  has  gradually 
found  his  way  to  the  front  of  the  army,  except  at 
the  actual  time  of  the  engagement.  The  Japanese 
used  a  cloud  of  doctors  for  "  skirmishers,"  just 
as  they  did  the  cloud  of  fighting  men — skirmisher 
doctors  who  examined  wells  and  streams  in  ad- 
vance of  the  troops,  and  who  set  up  signs  regard- 
ing the  potability  of  the  water  in  each.  Every 
scouting  or  foraging  detachment  was  accom- 
panied by  a  medical  officer  equipped  with  a  water- 
testing  outfit.  This  was  carried  in  a  canvas  case 
and  contained  the  proper  chemicals  for  making 
rough  but  conclusive  tests. 

The  drinking  places  were  labeled  in  three  ways, 
according  to  the  result  of  the  tests :  "  Pure  drink- 

[252] 


GRAPPLING  WITH  DISEASE 

ing  water  ";  "  Filter  and  boil  before  drinking  "; 
"  Use  for  washing  only;  not  drinking. "  And  the 
mandates  of  these  signs  were  rigorously  followed 
by  the  soldiers. 

As  an  adjunct  to  the  corps  of  field  testers  were 
corps  of  microscopists — "  the  most  deadly  foe  to 
the  Eussian  cause,"  as  some  one  has  said,  since 
it  deprived  them  of  the  aid  of  disease,  that  here- 
tofore has  been  the  greatest  aid  to  an  opposing 
force.  These  microscopists  could  not  accompany 
the  hurrying  bodies  of  scouts  and  skirmishers,  as 
in  the  case  of  the  chemical  testers ;  but  they  could 
follow  more  slowly,  making  exhaustive  confirma- 
tory tests,  and  so  clinching  the  work  of  their  prede- 
cessors in  the  field.  It  was  the  duty  of  these 
physicians  to  attend  to  the  improvement  of  the  san- 
itary conditions  of  a  town  where  a  halt  was  made 
for  more  than  twenty-four  hours,  and  their  word 
was  law.  The  sanitary  squad  in  such  cases  made 
a  careful  inspection  of  every  building  in  the  town, 
ordering  those  cleaned  that  proved  to  be  in  rea- 
sonably good  condition,  and  destroying  those  that 
were  near  the  danger  line  of  possible  infection. 

The  result  was  that,  instead  of  the  towns  oc- 
cupied by  the  advancing  armies  becoming  filthy, 
infectious  disease  breeders,  as  has  been  the  rule 
with  invading  armies  heretofore,  the  towns  occu- 
pied by  the  Japanese  became  clean  and  sanitary 
— most  of  them  for  the  first  time  in  their  histories. 

Cleaning  alone  did  not  suffice  to  protect  the 
troops  from  possible  sources  of  infection.  Foods 
sold  by  natives  had  to  pass  a  rigorous  examina- 

[253] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

tion  by  the  medical  staff,  and  if  condemned  were 
destroyed.  There  were  also  rules  laid  down  for 
regulating  the  manner  in  which  certain  perishable 
articles  should  be  offered  for  sale,  such  as  the  rule 
that  all  articles  offered  publicly  must  be  protected 
from  flies.  Indeed,  the  war  waged  by  the  surgeons 
against  flies  and  mosquitoes  was  quite  as  persist- 
ent and  relentless  as  that  against  the  germs. 
Specially  constructed  fly  traps  were  put  in  use 
everywhere;  and  mosquito  netting  and  other 
means  of  keeping  off  these  malaria-bearers  were 
used  as  never  before  in  the  history  of  warfare. 
All  these  preventive  measures  helped  to  hold 
the  dreaded  diseases  in  check. 

THE   TRIUMPH   OF   MODERN    SUKGEEY 

The  triumph  of  sanitary  science  seems  the  more 
complete  because  so  very  generally  unexpected. 

In  point  of  fact  it  was  no  more  remarkable  than 
the  other  analogous  triumph  of  science,  the  saving 
of  life  among  the  wounded.  But  the  world  has 
become  accustomed  to  expect  the  miraculous  in 
surgery,  or  anything  pertaining  to  the  art ;  so  that 
there  was  less  surprise  at  the  record  made  by 
the  Japanese  of  losing  only  one  and  one-half  per 
cent,  of  their  army  from  gunshot  wounds,  although 
twenty-four  per  cent,  were  wounded. 

The  scientific  knowledge  responsible  for  this 
remarkable  record  is,  of  course,  the  same  as  that 
which  governs  the  sanitary  department — the 
knowledge  that  germs  are  largely  the  cause  of  dis- 

[254] 


GRAPPLING  WITH  DISEASE 

eases,  whether  they  be  in  the  form  of  infectious 
maladies  or  infected  wounds.  In  either  case,  the 
underlying  principle  of  combating  them  is  the 
same,  the  principle  of  prevention.  And  this  pre- 
vention consists  essentially  in  keeping  the  germ 
out  of  the  wound.  The  dressing  of  the  wound  and 
subsequent  operations,  when  necessary,  may  be  de- 
ferred almost  indefinitely  if  the  poisonous  germ 
can  be  excluded  from  the  fresh  wound. 

Here  again  the  intelligent  aid  of  the  fighting 
man  was  requisitioned  by  the  surgeon.  Every 
man  was  instructed  in  the  causes  of  diseases  in 
wounds  just  as  in  the  case  of  the  matter  of  sani- 
tary precautions.  He  was  also  instructed  as  to 
what  he  should  do  in  case  he  was  wounded,  and 
was  furnished  with  a  "  first  aid  "  package  with 
which  to  carry  out  these  instructions. 

First  of  all,  he  was  to  see  that  his  body  was 
clean  before  going  into  battle,  and  if  possible  to 
put  on  clean  clothing  so  as  to  lessen  the  danger 
of  infection  from  unclean  shreds  coming  in  con- 
tact with  wounds. 

If  struck  by  a  bullet,  he  was  to  tear  open  his 
first-aid  package  at  once,  apply  the  dressing  and 
bandage  as  he  had  been  instructed  to  do,  and 
either  make  his  way  to  the  rear  or  wait  for  the 
stretcher  men  to  find  him  and  carry  him  to  the 
hospital  in  the  rear  of  the  firing  line. 

Had  the  men  been  ignorant  of  the  proper 
method  of  caring  for  their  wounds,  or  had  they 
followed  the  custom  of  soldiers  of  a  quarter  of  a 
century  ago  of  either  leaving  the  wounds  alone, 

[255] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

or  of  dressing  them  with  strips  of  germ-laden 
clothing,  handkerchiefs,  etc.,  the  mortality  from 
wounds  would  have  been  much  the  same  as  in 
previous  wars,  and  the  work  of  the  surgeons 
greatly  increased. 

As  it  was,  the  surgeons  found  themselves  free 
to  concentrate  their  efforts  in  caring  for  the  des- 
perate cases,  knowing  that  the  "  first-aid  "  dress- 
ings on  the  minor  injuries  would  suffice  for  the 
time  being.  Indeed,  it  happened  in  thousands  of 
cases  that  these  dressings  were  not  disturbed  by 
the  surgeons  after  the  men  had  applied  them,  the 
healing  process  taking  place  quite  as  readily  as 
if  the  dressing  had  been  applied  by  the  most 
skillful  surgeon. 

On  the  battle  ships  first-aid  packages  were  scat- 
tered about  everywhere,  so  that  there  would  be 
no  shortage  in  any  part  of  the  vessel.  The  men 
bathed  and  put  on  clean  clothing  before  an  ex- 
pected battle,  and  were  told  to  apply  first-aid 
bandages  at  once  the  same  as  the  soldiers.  For 
although  the  surgeons  are  always  close  at  hand 
on  a  battle  ship,  the  bursting  of  a  single  shell 
frequently  injures  so  many  men  that  some  of  the 
less  severely  injured  must  wait  for  the  surgeons ; 
and  it  is  in  these  cases  that  the  first-aid  dressings 
are  most  useful.  So  that  the  problem  of  caring 
for  the  wounded  in  a  naval  battle  does  not  differ 
essentially  from  that  of  caring  for  the  wounded 
in  land  battles. 

In  this  connection  some  notes  on  the  Japanese 
method  of  attending  to  the  wounded,  by  Dr. 

[256] 


GRAPPLING  WITH  DISEASE 

Tamura,  of  the  Japanese  army,  are  of  peculiar 
interest : 

'  '  We  do  not  use  much  in  the  way  of  antiseptics 
in  first  treatment/'  he  says.  "  Each  soldier  car- 
ries a  little  bag  of  first-aid  containing  antiseptic 
compresses  and  bandages,  and  the  soldier,  if 
wounded,  applies  first  the  compress  and  then  the 
bandage.  If  this  is  not  enough,  then  he  must  go 
back  to  the  surgeon  for  more  extensive  treatment. 

"  In  the  hospitals  it  is  a  larger  question,  and 
there  we  apply  modern  methods,  but  we  have  de- 
veloped nothing  new  in  practical  methods  of  se- 
curing asepsis  in  wounds.  The  use  of  iodoform 
is  not  to  apply  it  directly,  but  to  put  cotton  cloth 
over  the  wound  first.  A  direct  application  stimu- 
lates too  much.  Prior  to  this  war,  a  first-aid 
dressing  was  prepared  from  ashes  of  straw,  which 
were  placed  in  a  little  bag  and  pressed  over  the 
wound.  It  was  invented  by  Dr.  Kikuchi.  The 
effect  was  to  dry  the  wound  quickly,  and  it  had 
also  an  antiseptic  effect. 

"  Our  soldiers  are  trained  in  peace  to  use  first- 
aid  dressings  and  habitually  apply  them  very 
intelligently,  assisted  in  the  worst  cases  by  their 
comrades.  The  care  with  which  they  are  applied 
is  very  noticeable,  and  in  case  of  slight  wounds, 
and  to  some  extent  with  severe  wounds,  this  fin- 
ishes the  treatment. 

"  In  such  cases,  where  the  dressing  has  been 
carefully  done  and  the  bandage  does  not  become 
too  much  soiled,  it  is  better  to  leave  it  without 
change.  So  you  see  the  first  dressing  is  very 

[257] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

important.  If  it  is  badly  done,  redressing  becomes 
necessary,  and  in  this  way  sometimes  the  wound 
gets  worse.  When  the  wound  is  larger,  such  as  is 
made  by  shells,  necessitating  measures  to  stop 
the  flow  of  blood,  or  bones  have  been  fractured, 
the  case  is  different.  In  these  cases  the  first-aid 
dressing  is  of  the  greatest  importance,  and  is  cus- 
tomarily applied  on  the  field  by  the  surgeon  with 
the  troops. 

"  While  I  have  no  doubt  that  many  practical 
methods  have  been  developed,  in  our  extensive 
experience  in  this  war,  of  caring  for  the  wounded, 
none  have  been  reported  as  yet;  in  fact,  few 
reports  of  this  character  have  been  received. " 

This  last  sentence  contains  food  for  thought  for 
all  Western  nations.  Confessedly  the  great  tri- 
umph of  medical  science  in  this  war  by  Japan — 
the  most  conspicuous  triumph,  and  the  only  one 
unprecedented — is  simply  a  careful  application  of 
the  things  known  to  every  Western  nation.  Noth- 
ing new  has  been  discovered :  every  medical  man 
in  Europe  and  America  knows  all  the  things 
known  to  the  Japanese  as  regards  medicine  and 
surgery.  But  no  nation  hitherto  had  applied  this 
knowledge  with  such  thoroughness.  The  Japanese 
set  a  new  standard  for  the  Western  world,  simply 
by  applying  the  facts  that  Western  science  had 
taught  them. 


[258] 


xn 

MODEEN  EXPLOSIVES 

TO  judge  from  the  predictions  and  comments 
of  the  military  experts,  it  would  appear 
that  the  most  surprising  developments  of 
the  early  weeks  of  the  Great  War  in  Europe  in 
the  autumn  of  1914  were  associated  with  the  quick 
fall  of  the  forts  and  fortified  cities  before  the 
German  siege  guns. 

The  forts  of  Namur  had  been  supposed  to  be 
almost  impregnable;  and  the  fortifications  of 
Antwerp  were  by  many  military  authorities  re- 
garded as  beyond  the  reach  of  any  destructive 
mechanisms  that  could  be  brought  against  them. 
At  the  very  least,  it  was  supposed  that  Antwerp 
would  hold  out  for  weeks  or  months  against  the 
invaders.  Yet  when  the  great  siege  guns  were 
leveled  against  it,  their  missiles  proved  so  utterly 
destructive  that  the  capitulation  of  the  devastated 
fortress  was  a  matter  of  days — almost  of  hours. 

It  would  appear  that  nothing  as  yet  devised 
by  human  ingenuity  in  the  way  of  defensive  for- 
tifications can  withstand  the  terrific  blasts  of 
such  explosives  as  the  siege  guns  dropped  upon 
the  ramparts  from  their  safe  coign  of  vantage, 
miles  away. 

Of  course,  the  precise  range  of  the  fortifica- 
[259] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

tions  was  known  to  the  German  gunners,  and  they 
could  place  their  shells  with  unerring  accuracy; 
whereas  the  range  finders  in  the  fortress  were 
probably  unable  to  locate  the  attacking  batteries 
with  any  degree  of  accuracy  before  their  weapons 
were  put  out  of  commission.  In  the  matter  of 
accurate  placing  of  shots,  the  masked  battery 
temporarily  located  in  trench  or  ravine,  or  behind 
hill  or  building  at  a  distance  of  many  miles,  had 
an  infinite  advantage. 

It  was  reported  that  some  of  the  German  siege 
guns  were  of  sixteen-inch  (forty-two-centimeter) 
caliber — doubtless  the  largest  field  weapons  ever 
carried  in  a  campaign  into  an  enemy's  country. 
These  monster  weapons  are  of  howitzer  type — in 
effect,  lengthened  mortars.  As  compared  with 
ordinary  cannon,  they  are  relatively  short;  but 
even  so,  their  weight  is  enormous,  their  transpor- 
tation being  effected  by  powerful  motors.  The 
coming  of  the  automobile  had  encouraged  the  de- 
velopment of  good  roads;  and  now  automobiles 
were  everywhere  utilized  for  the  transportation 
of  troops  and  weapons  and  general  supplies, 
making  possible  the  maneuvering  of  large  bodies 
of  troops  with  a  rapidity  and  facility  hitherto 
without  precedent. 

When  the  invading  hosts  camped  before  a  for- 
tified place,  therefore,  they  were  not  necessarily 
at  a  disadvantage  as  to  power  of  armament. 
Their  siege  guns  equaled  or  excelled  in  caliber 
and  in  range  the  guns  of  the  forts  themselves, 
so  that  even  if  the  attacking  batteries  had  been 
;[  260  ] 


MODERN  EXPLOSIVES 

susceptible  of  being  readily  located  from  the 
forts,  they  might  still  have  carried  on  the  duel 
on  almost  equal  terms.  For  the  earth  mounds 
and  walls  and  steel  casements  of  the  fortress  af- 
forded scant  protection  against  the  modern  pro- 
jectiles, once  the  range  had  been  accurately 
gauged. 

^When  a  modern  explosive  is  detonated  it  de- 
stroys whatever  is  in  its  vicinity,  regardless  of 
whether  the  structures  be  of  earth,  of  concrete, 
of  wood,  or  of  steel. 

The  government  chemists  of  all  nations  are 
constantly  engaged  in  the  endeavor  to  perfect 
new  types  of  practical  explosives.  It  would  ap- 
pear that  the  efforts  of  the  German  chemists  have 
been  at  least  as  successful  as  those  of  any  other 
company  of  experts;  for  the  explosive  shells  that 
reduced  the  forts  of  Liege  and  Namur  and  Ant- 
werp, the  torpedoes  that  sank  the  Aboukir  and 
Hogue  and  Cressy  in  rapid  succession,  and  the 
mines  that  sank  the  Audacious  performed  their 
respective  tasks  in  a  way  that  left  little  to  be 
desired  from  the  standpoint  of  their  designers. 

If  wet  gun  cotton  and  dynamite,  as  employed 
in  the  torpedoes  and  mines  of  the  Russo-Japanese 
War,  had  seemed  to  lack  something  of  complete 
effectiveness,  no  such  criticism  can  be  passed 
upon  the  new  explosives  that  actuated  the  agents 
of  destruction  employed  in  the  Great  European 
War  of  1914. 

The  precise  composition  and  methods  of  manu- 
facture of  explosives  employed  by  each  govern- 
I  261  ] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

ment  are  of  course  carefully  guarded  military 
secrets.  It  is  reported,  however,  that  the  chief 
explosive  used  by  the  German  military  authori- 
ties in  their  shells,  torpedoes,  and  sea  mines  is  a 
compound  known  as  trinitrotoluene,  a  compound 
of  comparatively  recent  invention,  which  is 
usually  referred  to  by  British  military  experts 
as  "  T.  N.  T."  and  by  Germans  as  "  Trotyl." 

It  must  not  be  supposed,  however,  that  this  new 
explosive  is  necesarily  superior  to  the  explosive 
used  by  other  military  powers  at  the  present 
time,  although  it  had  advantages  over  the  explo- 
sives in  use  only  a  few  years  ago.  Nor  must  it 
be  inferred  that  trotyl  and  the  other  new  explo- 
sives are  more  powerful  than  any  others  hitherto 
known,  as  the  layman  might  not  unnaturally  sup- 
pose. 

In  point  of  fact,  there  are  substances  known  to 
the  chemist  that  explode  with  greater  violence 
than  is  manifested  by  any  compound  used  in  the 
construction  of  military  explosives  or  propel- 
lants.  The  power  of  an  explosive  depends  upon 
its  capacity  to  produce  a  large  volume  of  gas  from 
a  comparatively  small  amount  of  original  solid 
matter.  Judged  by  this  standard,  the  most  pow- 
erful explosive  known  is  probably  a  salt  of  hydra- 
zoic  acid  (N3H),  the  ammonia  compound  of  which 
(N3NH4)  produces,  according  to  the  French  chem- 
ist Berthelot,  one  thousand  one  hundred  and 
forty-eight  cubic  centimeters  of  gases  (at  atmos- 
pheric pressure)  for  one  gram  weight  of  sub- 
stance. No  other  known  substance  gives  a  corre- 
[262] 


MODERN  EXPLOSIVES 

spending  change  of  volume  in  passing  from  the 
solid  to  the  gaseous  state. 

But  these  compounds  of  hydrazoic  acid  explode 
with  extreme  violence  if  heated  to  a  temperature 
only  slightly  above  the  normal  boiling  point  of 
water. 

They  are  therefore  far  too  sensitive  to  be  used 
for  the  practical  purpose  to  which  military  explo- 
sives are  put.  Moreover,  their  extreme  violence 
of  action  would  be  to  some  extent  a  disadvan- 
tage. It  would  prevent  their  use  as  propellants, 
since  they  would  burst  the  gun  barrel;  and  if 
placed  in  torpedoes  or  mines  they  would  shatter 
their  inclosing  cases  almost  to  the  condition  of 
powder  on  being  discharged,  and  on  the  whole 
would  thus  have  a  less  destructive  effect  than 
would  be  produced  by  an  explosive  that  burst  the 
shell  into  relatively  large  pieces  and,  by  rela- 
tively slow  combustion,  extended  the  area  of  its 
destructive  influence. 

Such  tendency  to  overrapid  explosion  is  a 
fault  of  picric  acid  and  its  derivatives,  lyddite  and 
melinite.  And,  in  general,  it  may  be  said  that  the 
practical  explosives  now  used  in  warfare  are 
modified  in  such  a  way  as  to  retard  rather  than 
to  accelerate  their  rapidity  of  action  when  deto- 
nated. 

Moreover,  they  are  modified  in  different  ways 
to  meet  different  needs.  For  example,  the  Brit- 
ish explosive,  cordite,  which  is  used  for  small 
arms  and  for  cannon  alike,  is  modified  in  action 
by  the  simple  expedient  of  manufacturing  it  into 

[263] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

6 '  cords  ' ' — whence  its  name — of  smaller  or  larger 
size.  The  larger  the  cord,  the  slower  its  com- 
bustion. Thus  it  may  be  adapted  to  the  require- 
ments of  a  relatively  slow-burning  propellant  or 
of  a  quickly  detonating  explosive — although  for 
practical  purposes  another  explosive,  lyddite,  is 
substituted  in  mines  and  torpedoes. 

All  this  will  perhaps  be  somewhat  more  clearly 
understood  if  we  consider  in  detail  the  nature  of 
explosions  in  general  and  the  principles  that  gov- 
ern the  action  of  explosives. 

HOW  EXPLOSIVES  ACT 

An  interesting  elementary  experiment  may  be 
made  by  scattering  a  pinch  of  lycopodium  powder 
(which  may  be  obtained  at  any  drug  store)  in  the 
air  and  striking  a  match.  The  almost  invisible 
particles  of  powder — in  reality  they  are  pollen 
grains — will  ignite  with  explosive  suddenness, 
producing  a  miniature  conflagration  in  the  air 
that  is  distinctly  startling. 

The  same  phenomenon  is  manifested  on  a  large 
scale  when  an  explosion  occurs  in  a  coal  mine. 
Such  an  explosion  may  result  from  coal  dust 
floating  in  the  air  or  lightly  sprinkled  about  the 
corridors  of  a  mine.  The  results  are  often  highly 
disastrous. 

The  explanation  of  the  phenomenon,  with  either 
coal  dust  or  lycopodium  powder,  is  merely  that 
the  combustible  matter  exists  in  the  form  of  ex- 
cessively minute  particles  surrounded  on  all  sides 

[264] 


MODERN  EXPLOSIVES 

by  air.  If  the  same  particles  were  brought  to- 
gether and  compressed  into  a  solid  mass,  rela- 
tively few  of  them  would  be  in  contact  with  the 
air,  and  when  the  mass  is  ignited  combustion 
would  take  place  slowly — as  witness  the  slow 
burning  of  a  lump  of  coal. 

Now  this  difference  between  the  rapid  burning 
of  the  particles  of  coal  dust  when  scattered 
through  the  air  and  the  slow  burning  of  the  same 
particles  when  massed  into  a  lump  of  coal  is 
precisely  the  essential  difference  between  explo- 
sion and  ordinary  combustion.  In  each  case  the 
chemical  phenomenon  involved  is  the  union  of  the 
atoms  of  carbon,  which  are  the  chief  constituents 
of  coal,  with  the  atoms  of  oxygen.  In  each  case 
the  result  is  the  production  of  gases,  chiefly  car- 
bon monoxid  (CO)  and  carbon  dioxid  (C02).  In 
each  case  the  gases  thus  formed,  obeying  the  na- 
ture of  gases,  expand  with  violence  under  influ- 
ence of  the  heat  that  the  chemical  reaction  gen- 
erates. 

And  the  only  reason  why  we  have  in  one  case 
an  "explosion"  and  in  the  other  a  simple 
"  combustion  "  or  burning  is  that  in  one  case  a 
large  number  of  particles  are  burned  simultane- 
ously and  hence  a  large  quantity  of  gas  produced 
too  quickly  to  escape  without  damaging  the  cham- 
ber in  which  the  burning  takes  place. 

When  coal  is  burned  in  a  grate  or  stove,  an  air 
current  constantly  blows  the  combustion  gases 
away  and  carries  them  up  the  chimney.  If,  how- 
ever, the  coal  were  burned,  however  slowly,  in  an 

[265] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

air-tight  chamber,  the  walls  of  which  were  so  con- 
structed as  to  prevent  the  escape  of  heat,  the 
gases  formed  would  presently  exert  a  pressure 
that  would  rupture  the  walls  in  a  manner  pre- 
cisely equivalent  to  an  explosion. 

An  all  too  familiar  illustration  of  the  differ- 
ence between  burning  a  combustible  substance  in 
the  open  and  in  a  closed  receptacle  is  furnished 
by  the  accidental  explosion  of  gas  ovens,  result- 
ing from  turning  on  the  gas  too  freely  and  ignit- 
ing while  the  oven  door  is  closed.  But  for  that 
matter  it  is  well  known  that  even  such  an  explo- 
sive as  gunpowder  may  be  safely  enough  burned 
in  the  open. 

Yet  the  same  quantity  of  powder  if  ignited  in  a 
closed  chamber  would  produce  a  violent  explo- 
sion. 

The  reason  why  the  powder  burns  slowly  in 
the  open  is  that  the  heat  produced  is  dissipated, 
so  that  the  entire  mass  of  powder  is  not  rapidly 
raised  to  a  high  temperature.  There  is  the  clos- 
est association  between  high  temperatures  and 
the  explosive  activities  of  a  gas,  as  will  be  ex- 
plained more  at  length  in  a  moment. 

GUNPOWDER   AND   HIGH   EXPLOSIVES 

The  essential  principle  on  which  the  action  of 
gunpowder  and  other  manufactured  explosives  is 
based  is  simply  that  the  compound  shall  contain 
within  its  own  substance  (1)  one  or  more  nitro- 
gen atoms,  and  (2)  enough  oxygen  to  effect  the 

[266] 


MODERN  EXPLOSIVES 

combustion  of  the  other  substances  making  up 
the  compound. 

Ordinary  gunpowder,  for  example,  which  for 
some  centuries  was  the  only  practical  explosive 
known,  consists  of  about  seventy-five  parts  nitrate 
of  potash,  or  saltpeter,  intimately  mixed  (not 
chemically  combined)  with  about  fifteen  parts  of 
gunpowder  charcoal  and  ten  parts  of  powdered 
sulphur.  Saltpeter  is  an  unstable  compound  of 
potassium,  nitrogen,  and  oxygen.  Each  molecule 
contains  one  atom  of  hydrogen,  one  of  nitrogen, 
and  three  atoms  of  oxygen  (KN03). 

The  presence  of  the  nitrogen  atom  makes  the 
molecule  of  saltpeter  very  unstable.  For  the 
nitrogen  atom  is  essentially  patrician.  It  seems 
to  care  for  the  society  only  of  its  own  fellows. 
When  forced  into  combinations  with  other  atoms 
it  has  a  strong  innate  propensity  to  liberate 
itself  from  the  entangling  alliance. 

So  the  molecule  of  saltpeter  may  be  thought 
of  as  a  community  that  is  always  on  the  verge  of 
disruption.  Or  it  might  be  likened  to  a  coiled 
spring  held  in  place  and  ready  to  fly  into  action 
the  moment  the  restraining  force  is  released. 

Notwithstanding  the  innate  restlessness  of  its 
nitrogen  component,  the  molecule  of  saltpeter, 
once  formed,  is  powerless  to  change  its  condition 
unless  the  initiative  comes  in  the  form  of  some 
outside  disturbance,  so  the  gunpowder,  of  which 
it  forms  the  chief  part,  is  as  inert  and  harmless 
as  so  much  dirt,  unless  a  disturbing  influence  is 
brought  to  bear  on  it.  Suppose,  however,  that  a 

[267] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

spark  of  fire  comes  in  contact  with  the  powder. 
The  heat  so  increases  the  activities  of  the  mole- 
cule as  to  enable  its  particles  to  break  loose  from 
their  unwilling  bonds. 

In  effect  the  spring  is  released. 

Instantly  the  nitrogen  atom  dashes  out  in  one 
direction,  the  oxygen  atom  in  another.  Heat  is 
liberated,  and  contiguous  molecules  are  similarly 
disturbed.  Each  nitrogen  atom  unites  with  a  fel- 
low atom  to  produce  nitrogen  gas.  The  oxygen 
atoms  combine  eagerly  with  the  atoms  of  carbon 
supplied  by  the  charcoal,  producing  carbonic  aciH 
gas  and  carbon  monoxid.  Some  potassium  atoms 
combine  with  oxygen;  others  are  left  to  them- 
selves. To  supply  their  needs  the  -sulphur  was 
provided,  for  these  two  have  an  eager  liking  for 
each  other. 

So  the  mixture  that  was  potassium  nitrate 
(KNO3)  and  carbon  (C)  and  sulphur  (S)  has  now 
become  carbon  monoxid  (CO)  and  nitrogen  gas 
(N2)  and  carbonic  acid  gas  (C02)  and  potassium 
sulphid  (K2S)  and  potassium  oxid  (K20)  and  po- 
tassium carbonate  (K2C03).  The  potassium  salts, 
representing  more  than  half  the  bulk  of  the  orig- 
inal mass  of  the  explosive,  remain  as  an  inert 
powder  and  are  made  visible  in  the  form  of  smoke. 

There  are  some  complexities  of  the  reaction 
that  concern  only  the  chemist.  But  the  essential 
thing  is  that  nearly  half  the  substance  of  the  pow- 
der has  been  converted  into  gases,  which  now, 
superheated  in  the  process  of  transformation, 
press  with  terrific  force  in  every  direction  in  their 

[268] 


MODERN  EXPLOSIVES 

efforts  to  escape.  Unless  afforded  instant  exit 
(as  by  discharge  of  a  bullet)  they  disrupt  the 
walls  that  contain  them,  producing  a  more  or  less 
violent  explosion. 

The  more  modern  types  of  explosives  operate 
in  precisely  the  same  way,  but  owe  their  greater 
violence  of  action  to  the  fact  that  they  are  made 
up  of  still  more  complex  molecules,  the  entire 
substance  of  which  is  converted  into  gases. 
There  being  no  inert  metallic  residue,  such  as 
that  formed  by  potassium  and  sulphur,  these 
"  high  "  explosives  are  relatively  smokeless. 

The  type  substance  which  is  the  basic  of  all 
modern  explosives  is  nitroglycerin,  which  is  a 
very  complex  compound  of  carbon,  hydrogen, 
nitrogen,  and  oxygen,  the  formula  usually  given 
being  C3H5N309. 

When  this  molecule  is  disrupted,  nitrogen  is 
set  free  as  before,  and  the  liberated  oxygen  atoms 
combine  on  one  hand  with  carbon  to  form  car- 
bonic gas,  and  on  the  other  with  hydrogen  to 
form  water,  which  at  the  high  temperature  in- 
volved has  the  form  of  a  truly  gaseous  vapor. 
The  amount  of  heat  liberated  is  relatively  enor- 
mous, and  there  is  no  non-combustible  residue. 

Dynamite  owes  its  explosive  power  entirely  to 
nitroglycerin,  which  is  incorporated  with  an  ab- 
sorbent form  of  earth.  Gun  cotton,  made  by 
treating  cotton  fiber  or  other  vegetable  tissues 
with  nitric  acid,  is  closely  similar  to  nitroglycerin, 
which  latter  substance,  as  its  name  implies,  is  a 
product  of  glycerin.  Picric  acid,  the  foundation 

[269] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

of  lyddite,  is  a  coal-tar  derivative  of  the  same 
general  formula  as  the  other  high  explosives. 

All  these  explosives  depend  on  unstable  nitro- 
gen compounds  that  were  built  up  originally 
through  the  action  of  living  tissues. 

Some  conception  of  the  energy  stored  in  these 
unstable  compounds  may  be  gained  from  an  esti- 
mate of  the  French  chemist,  Berthelot,  according 
to  whose  tests  the  explosion  of  gunpowder  may 
produce  a  pressure  of  twenty-four  thousand 
atmospheres;  that  is  to  say,  one  hundred  and 
sixty  tons  to  the  square  inch. 

THE   POWER   OF    NUMBERS 

Most  readers  are  probably  aware  that  the  ex- 
pansive property  which  characterizes  gases,  and 
upon  which  the  effect  of  all  explosives  depends, 
is  due  to  the  activities  of  the  molecules  that  make 
up  the  gas.  The  molecules  are  unthinkably  but 
not  immeasurably  small.  The  number  of  mole- 
cules in  a  cubic  millimeter  (one-twenty-fifth  of  an 
inch)  reaches  a  figure  that  requires  for  its  ex- 
pression a  unit  followed  by  sixteen  ciphers — that 
is  to  say,  that  runs  into  quintillions. 

Even  the  newly  found  "  rare  "  gases  of  the 
atmosphere,  of  which  only  a  "  trace  "  is  said  to 
exist,  are  really  represented  by  enormous  num- 
bers of  molecules.  There  are,  for  example, 
about  four  hundred  billion  atoms  of  neon  and 
about  forty  billion  atoms  of  helium  in  each  cubic 
millimeter  of  dry  air  at  normal  temperature.  Yet 

[270] 


MODERN  EXPLOSIVES 

these  numbers  constitute  such  an  infinitesimal 
company,  as  compared  with  the  huge  galaxies  of 
nitrogen  and  oxygen  atoms,  that  chemists  have 
only  recently  detected  their  existence. 

These  figures  give  some  faint  conception  of  the 
minute  size  of  the  molecules,  but  in  so  doing 
serve  to  make  the  enormous  energies  exerted  by 
these  molecules  the  more  mysterious.  To  explain 
the  colossal  power  which  the  molecules  are  ob- 
served to  exert,  as  when  a  bit  of  dynamite  is 
exploded,  it  is  necessary  to  recall  that  each  and 
every  molecule  is  an  elastic  body  which  is  in- 
cessantly in  motion,  colliding  with  its  fellows  and 
bounding  away  as  if  possessed  of  an  insatiate 
desire  to  find  isolation. 

It  is  estimated  that  each  molecule  collides  with 
another  molecule  on  the  average  of  about  six 
billion  times  per  second. 

Whoever  cares  to  multiply  that  number  by 
about  forty  quintillions  (the  number  of  molecules 
in  a  cubic  millimeter)  will  set  down  in  figures  the 
number  of  collisions  that  take  place  each  second 
in  every  millimeter  of  a  gas  at  ordinary  tem- 
perature. 

The  number,  as  will  appear,  is  represented  by 
two  hundred  and  forty  followed  by  thirty  ciphers. 
In  words,  it  is  two  hundred  and  forty  millions  of 
billions  of  billions;  otherwise  two  hundred  and 
forty  nonillions. 

This  inconceivable  number  of  times  per  second, 
then,  the  molecules  collide  with  one  another  in 
each  cubic  millimeter  of  the  air  we  breathe,  or  of 

[271] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

any  other  gas;  and  after  collision  spring  back, 
like  rubber  balls,  against  any  obstructing  sur- 
face. Each  individual  push  is  infinitesimal  be- 
yond computations;  but  sundry  billions  of  little 
pushes  combined  make  an  impulse  that  will  burst 
barriers  of  steel.  Reflect  that  the  molecules  be- 
come vastly  more  resilient  and  active  with  in- 
creased temperature,  and  the  full  action  of  the 
explosive  is  at  least  proximally  explained. 

Where  else  could  one  find  a  comparable  object 
lesson  in  the  overwhelming  power  of  numbers'? 

MODERN   SUBSTITUTES  FOR   GUNPOWDER 

A  practical  gauge  of  the  energy  involved  in  the 
combustion  of  an  explosive  is  furnished  by  the 
extraordinary  temperatures  produced.  Thus  a 
mixture  of  the  metal  aluminum  granulated  and 
oxid  of  iron,  when  ignited  by  a  formulation  pow- 
der, readjusts  these  atoms  to  form  oxid  of  al- 
uminum and  pure  iron,  and  does  this  with  such 
fervor  that  a  temperature  of  about  three  thou- 
sand degrees  is  reached. 

This  is  a  temperature  far  in  excess  of  that 
which  may  be  obtained  with  ordinary  fuels  in  the 
blast  furnace,  the  maximum  of  which  is  about 
one  hundred  and  eighty  degrees ;  although  it  does 
not  quite  equal  the  three  thousand  six  hundred 
degrees  Centigrade  of  the  electric  arc. 

Even  this  temperature  is  exceeded,  however,  in 
the  explosion  of  cordite  in  closed  steel  chambers. 
In  the  experiments  of  Sir  Andrew  Noble  and  Sir 

[272] 


MODERN  EXPLOSIVES 

S.  Abel,  in  which  cordite  was  thus  exploded,  it 
was  estimated  that  the  temperature  approxi- 
mated five  thousand  degrees  Centigrade.  At  a 
far  lower  temperature  than  this  iron  is  not  only 
melted,  but  brought  almost  to  the  boiling  point; 
the  temperature  attained  by  'the  -exploding  of 
cordite  in  a  closed  chamber  must  bring  the  metal 
almost  to  the  point  of  vaporization. 

Cordite,  as  already  explained,  is  a  form  of 
smokeless  powder  used  in  the  British  army.  It 
is  composed  of  gun  cotton,  nitroglycerin,  and  min- 
eral jelly. 

Needless  to  say,  it  is  not  desirable  to  attain 
such  temperatures  in  the  use  of  cordite  as  a  pro- 
pellant.  But  the  extreme  heat  produced  is  asso- 
ciated with  the  suddenness  of  the  reaction ;  and  it 
has  already  been  explained  that  in  practice  this 
is  controlled  by  the  form  in  which  the  cordite  is 
prepared.  It  obviously  would  not  do  to  produce 
a  temperature  of  five  thousand  degrees  within  a 
gun  barrel,  as  the  metal  itself  would  thereby  be 
liquefied  or  even  vaporized ;  but  by  regulating  the 
size  of  the  filaments  in  which  the  cordite  is  made 
it  is  possible  so  to  retard  the  combustion  that 
heat  production  is  regulated  and  adjusted  to  the 
needs  of  the  particular  weapon,  the  energy  liber- 
ated being  used  to  propel  the  bullet  without  ma- 
terial injury  to  the  gun  barrel. 

What  is  true  of  cordite  is  equally  true  of  other 
forms  of  smokeless  powder,  all  of  which  have  the 
same  essential  constitution;  their  peculiarity,  as 
already  explained,  consisting  merely  in  the  fact 

[273] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

that  their  entire  substance  is  susceptible  of  being 
transformed  into  the  gaseous  condition.  One  of 
the  first  problems  that  confronted  the  inventor 
when  the  idea  of  using  high  explosives  of  this 
character  as  propellants  was  conceived  was  to 
regulate  the  rate  of  explosion.  A  solution  was 
found  in  the  reduction  of  the  explosive  substance 
to  a  powder  of  varying  degrees  of  granulation. 
Such  an  explosive  as  cordite  burns  from  without 
inward,  and  its  rapidity  of  combustion  is  deter- 
mined by  the  size  of  the  granules  or  particles.  In 
this  regard  it  does  not  differ  essentially  from 
coal,  which,  as  we  have  seen,  is  explosive  when 
reduced  to  a  fine  powder,  yet  burns  slowly  when 
in  the  form  of  nuggets. 

When  it  is  intended  to  use  smokeless  powder  in 
heavy  ordnance  the  substance  may  be  prepared 
in  cubes  or  blocks  of  different  sizes,  perforated 
with  holes  of  varying  size  to  regulate  the  surface 
exposure.  In  this  way  the  same  thing  is  accom- 
plished that  is  accomplished  with  cordite  when 
that  substance  is  made  in  "  cords  "  of  varying 
sizes,  from  minute  threadlike  filaments  to  rela- 
tively large  ropes. 

Of  course,  when  the  explosive  is  to  be  used  in 
a  torpedo  or  mine,  it  may  be  desirable  to  utilize 
it  in  such  mechanical  form  or  in  such  chemical 
combination  that  it  will  operate  far  more  sud- 
denly than  would  be  permissible  when  it  is  used 
as  a  propellant.  But  even  here,  as  has  already 
been  pointed  out,  it  is  not  always  desirable  to 
produce  the  most  rapid  explosion  possible.  In 
{274] 


MODERN  EXPLOSIVES 

the  case  of  the  shells  used  in  land  warfare,  for 
example,  it  is  better  to  have  large  fragments 
scattered  widely,  rather  than  to  have  a  shower  of 
minute  splinters  which  operate  within  a  small 
radius — better,  that  is  to  say,  from  the  stand- 
point of  the  military  tactician,  whose  essential 
purpose  is,  necessarily,  the  crippling  or  killing 
of  as  large  a  number  as  possible  of  the  enemy's 
forces.  And  to  produce  this  effect  a  compara- 
tively slow  explosion  is  more  effective  than  an 
exceedingly  rapid  one. 

Similarly,  in  case  of  a  mine  or  torpedo,  the  ex- 
plosive that  acts  with  extreme  rapidity  may  pul- 
verize everything  in  the  immediate  vicinity,  and 
in  so  doing  needlessly  exhaust  energy  that  might 
more  advantageously  be  utilized  in  the  less  com- 
plete but  equally  effective  demolition  of  more  dis- 
tant objects. 

It  is  obviously  desirable  that  the  explosives  to 
be  used  in  warfare  as  propellants,  or  in  the  con- 
struction of  torpedoes  or  mines,  should  not  be 
unduly  sensitive  to  concussion.  Everyone  knows 
that  ordinary  powder  may  be  rubbed  or  shaken 
or  even  struck  with  a  hammer  without  danger  of 
explosion.  The  higher  explosives  that  have  sup- 
planted powder  are,  many  of  them,  almost  equally 
unresponsive.  It  is  necessary,  therefore,  with 
the  modern  propellants,  as  with  black  powder, 
to  use  a  so-called  fulminate  to  detonate  or  ex- 
plode the  charge. 

The  first  fulminates  were  discovered  just  at  the 
close  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  led  very  soon 

[275] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

to  the  invention  of  the  percussion  cap,  the  revo- 
lutionary effects  of  which  have  been  detailed  in 
an  earlier  chapter.  The  fulminate  in  question 
was  discovered  by  Howard,  and  was  a  product  of 
the  action  of  alcohol  on  a  solution  of  mercury 
in  nitric  acid.  Other  fulminates  have  since  been 
made,  but  the  fulminate  of  mercury  retains  its 
place  as  the  most  practical  and  effective  of  det- 
onants. 

This  substance  is  a  compound  in  which  mer- 
cury is  united  with  carbon,  nitrogen,  and  oxygen. 
It  is  a  white  crystalline  solid,  very  sensitive  to 
friction  or  percussion.  Curiously  enough,  its 
rate  of  burning  is  too  high  to  allow  it  time  to 
ignite  common  powder;  so  it  is  mixed  with  cer- 
tain quantities  of  inert  substances,  such  as  glass 
powder,  which  reduce  the  rate  of  burning.  There 
is  a  metallic  residue  when  the  fulminate  is  ex- 
ploded, but  this,  of  course,  is  of  no  consequence, 
as  the  amount  of  the  substance  used  to  detonate 
a  charge  of  powder  or  other  explosive  is  in- 
finitesimal. A  minute  detonating  spark  suffices 
to  start  the  essential  conflagration  in  the  powder 
chamber. 

It  will  be  evident  from  what  has  just  been  said 
that  there  is  no  essential  difference  between  the 
metallic  fulminates  and  other  explosives,  as  re- 
gards their  principle  of  action.  The  value  of  the 
fulminates  hinges  on  the  fact  that  they  ignite  at 
a  low  temperature,  such  as  that  produced  by 
the  concussion  of  a  gun  hammer  or  a  similar 
impact. 

[276] 


MODERN  EXPLOSIVES 


THE  EFFECTS  OF  HIGH  EXPLOSIVES 

In  considering  the  effects  of  explosives  it 
should  always  be  recalled  that  an  expanding  gas 
presses  equally  in  all  directions. 

The  practical  effect  produced  by  an  explosive 
depends,  therefore,  very  largely  upon  the  na- 
ture of  the  wall  in  which  it  is  encased.  Persons 
unfamiliar  with  physical  laws  often  remark  that 
dynamite  exerts  its  force  downward  because  it  is 
observed  to  tear  up  the  earth  when  exploded  at 
the  earth's  surface.  But,  of  course,  this  impres- 
sion is  altogether  mistaken.  Dynamite  thus  dis- 
charged, like  any  other  explosive,  presses  equally 
in  all  directions,  but  the  suddenness  of  the  explo- 
sion causes  it  to  tear  up  the  earth  at  the  same 
time  that  it  is  sending  volumes  of  gases  laterally 
and  upward  into  the  atmosphere. 

When  a  mine  explodes  against  the  side  of  a 
ship  its  expanding  gases  press  outward  against 
the  water  quite  as  forcibly  as  against  the 
hull  of  the  vessel.  But  water  is  a  practically 
incompressible  fluid,  far  more  unyielding  than 
any  mass  of  steel  with  which  the  ship's  hull  can 
be  encased;  so  the  effective  expansion  of  the 
gas  occurs  largely  in  the  direction  of  the  vessel, 
shattering  its  hull. 

When  the  explosive  is  ignited  within  a  gun  bar- 
rel it  presses  laterally  and  breechwise  just  as 
powerfully  as  it  presses  against  the  bullet.  The 
only  reason  why  the  bullet  goes  forward  while 

[277] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

the  gun  remains  relatively  stationary  is  that  the 
bullet  is  smaller  than  the  gun  and  less  firmly 
anchored. 

When  the  explosive  projectile  is  detonated  it 
of  course  operates  on  the  same  principle.  If  its 
shell  is  of  uniform  thickness  throughout,  its  de- 
structive effects  will  be  manifest  with  equal  force 
in  every  direction.  The  radius  of  its  destruc- 
tive action  will  be  determined,  as  already  ex- 
plained, by  the  force  of  the  charge  itself  and  by 
the  size  of  the  fragments  into  which  the  shell  is 
disrupted. 

The  changes  in  military  tactics  made  necessary 
by  the  all-prevailing  use  of  high  explosives,  both 
as  propellants,  to  give  great  range  to  the  pro- 
jectile, and  as  disrupters  of  the  projectile  itself, 
when  this  is  fired  from  ordnance  (the  use  of  ex- 
plosive bullets  in  small  arms  being  expressly 
prohibited  by  international  agreement),  has  been 
more  forcibly  illustrated  in  the  great  contem- 
porary European  conflict  than  ever  before.  In 
advancing,  the  armies  depart  as  widely  as  pos- 
sible from  the  old  "  close  formation  ";  they  are 
forced  to  take  advantage  of  every  protective  fea- 
ture of  the  landscape  to  escape  annihilation  by 
machine  guns  and  explosive  shells ;  and  whenever 
their  progress  is  retarded,  they  at  once  begin  dig- 
ging elaborate  systems  of  trenches  on  a  scale 
never  hitherto  practiced  in  either  ancient  or  mod- 
ern warfare. 

The  short-handled  spade  used  for  this  purpose 
was  invented,  it  may  be  noted,  by  an  American 

[278] 


MODERN  EXPLOSIVES 

engineer,  Brigadier  General  H.  W.  Benham,  of 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  and  was  first  used  in 
our  own  Civil  War.  But  its  adoption,  in  one  form 
or  another,  as  a  part  of  the  regular  equipment  of 
the  soldier  is  a  matter  of  recent  history.  In  the 
Great  War  in  Europe  the  short,  steel-bladed 
spade  has  played  a  part  scarcely  subordinate  to 
that  of  machine  gun  and  cannon. 

Where  the  field  is  stubbornly  contested,  series 
of  trenches  are  dug,  each  trench  about  four  feet 
wide  and  five  feet  deep,  the  successive  trenches 
being  placed  parallel  to  each  other,  and  at  right 
angles  to  the  line  of  advance  or  retreat,  at  in- 
tervals of  about  a  hundred  yards,  connection  be- 
tween them  being  effected  by  zigzag  trenches,  so 
that  retreat  or  advance  may  be  made  under  cover. 

Wherever  possible  the  trenches  are  themselves 
covered  over  in  such  a  way  as  to  shield  their  oc- 
cupants from  aerial  bombs  or  the  fragments  of 
shells  exploding  overhead.  In  some  cases  con- 
crete has  been  used  to  give  further  effectiveness 
to  the  barricades,  so  that  the  intrenchments  par- 
take of  the  character  of  permanent  fortifications. 

In  digging  the  trenches  care  is  taken  to  scatter 
the  earth  widely,  so  that  there  may  be  no  con- 
spicuous object  visible  from  a  distance  to  serve 
the  enemy  in  range  finding. 

All  this  is  a  tribute  to  the  effectiveness  of  the 
modern  weapon,  which  has  so  changed  the  aspect 
of  warfare  that  measures  of  protection  that  would 
once  have  been  thought  to  savor  of  timidity  or 
over-cautiousness  are  now  matters  of  sheer  ne- 

[  279  ] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

cessity  if  the  total  annihilation  of  entire  regi- 
ments or  corps  by  machine  guns  and  ordnance 
operating  at  long  range  is  to  be  avoided. 

The  net  result  is  that  when  the  final  count  is 
taken  it  will  probably  appear  that,  despite  the 
enormous  destructiveness  of  modern  weapons, 
the  proportion  of  casualties  has  not  been  greater 
in  this  most  recent  of  conflicts  than  in  numerous 
antecedent  wars  of  the  old  days  of  black  powder, 
muzzle-loaders,  and  round  bullets. 

If  so,  it  will  appear  that  all  the  applications  of 
scientific  method  to  the  art  of  warfare  have  not 
materially  increased  man's  capacity  to  kill  his  fel- 
low man. 

Meantime,  however,  the  application  of  science 
to  the  arts  of  peace  has  enabled  the  human  popu- 
lations to  increase  so  enormously  that  the  aggre- 
gate numbers  of  men  engaged  in  the  present  con- 
flict are  unexampled,  and  the  aggregate  toll  of 
human  life  will  therefore  be  quite  without  prec- 
edent— totaling  such  numbers,  indeed,  as  must 
make  the  most  infuriated  combats  of  ancient  or 
medieval  times  seem  bloodless  by  comparison. 

A  sad  commentary,  that,  on  the  alleged  prog- 
ress of  civilization! 


[280] 


xni 

SUBMAKINE  AND  AERIAL  WARFARE 

ON  the  22d  of  September,  1914,  a  British  sea 
captain,    sweeping    the    horizon    casually 
from    the    bridge    of    his    ship    in    the 
North  Sea,  noted  that  three  war  vessels  were  in 
view. 

He  observed  that  they  were  British  vessels, 
and  no  doubt  this  gave  him  an  added  sense  of 
safety;  for  his  country  was  at  war  with  Germany, 
and  it  would  not  have  fared  well  with  him  had  the 
warships  that  had  thus  come  his  way  belonged  to 
the  enemy.  But  as  it  was  all  was  well,  and  there 
was  no  occasion  to  observe  the  vessels  more  than 
casually. 

A  few  minutes  later  the  captain  chanced  to 
glance  again  in  the  direction  of  the  warships,  and 
was  mildly  surprised  to  observe  that  there  ap- 
peared to  be  only  two  of  them  instead  of  the 
three  that  had  first  been  noted.  The  observation 
was  puzzling,  but  the  captain  appeared  not  to 
have  been  perturbed  by  it.  When,  however,  after 
another  interval  of  a  few  minutes,  he  again 
glanced  in  the  direction  of  the  warships,  he  ob- 
served that  now  only  a  single  one  was  visible; 
and  now  the  comprehension  came  home  to  him 
that  something  was  wrong. 

[281] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

He  gave  orders  to  have  his  own  vessel  turn  in 
the  direction  of  the  missing  warships,  and  made 
all  haste  to  approach  the  scene  of  the  apparent 
disaster.  But  even  as  he  approached,  the  third 
warship  was  seen  to  be  in  difficulty,  and  long  be- 
fore the  merchantman  could  reach  it  this  vessel 
also  foundered  without  apparent  cause,  and  dis- 
appeared. 

All  that  the  merchantman  could  do  was  to  res- 
cue a  small  number  of  sailors,  the  larger  part  of 
whose  companions  had  perished  when  their  ships 
went  down,  or  in  the  chilly  water  soon  after. 

Meantime  no  enemy  had  been  seen,  and  the 
cause  of  the  disaster  to  the  three  ships  could  be 
only  matter  of  conjecture.  As  to  this,  however, 
there  was  no  reasonable  doubt.  The  vessels,  it 
appeared,  had  been  successively  torpedoed;  and 
as  they  were  in  the  open  sea  where  no  mines  could 
be  laid,  the  only  explanation  could  be  that  a  sub- 
marine vessel  or  fleet  of  such  vessels  had  attacked 
the  cruisers  and  wrought  their  destruction  while 
themselves  remaining  invisible.  Such  had  indeed 
been  the  fact,  and  it  was  subsequently  revealed 
that  the  craft  that  had  accomplished  this  extraor- 
dinary feat  was  a  small  submarine  of  the  German 
navy,  designated  the  U-9. 

This  insignificant  vessel — so  small  that  it  bore 
merely  letter  and  number,  not  being  dignified 
with  a  name — had  single-handed  attacked  three 
relatively  formidable  cruisers,  and  with  a  single 
torpedo  for  each  sent  them  successively  to  the 
bottom,  without  itself  receiving  any  injury  what- 

[282] 


SUBMARINE  AND  AERIAL  WARFARE 

ever,  and  probably  without  being  observed  by 
any  member  of  the  crews  of  its  quarry. 

It  is  said  to  have  been  the  same  submarine  that 
similarly  attacked  and  destroyed  the  British 
cruiser  Hawke  a  few  weeks  later,  when  the  vessel 
was  sailing  alone  in  waters  which,  so  far  as  was 
known,  were  quite  free  of  the  enemy's  warships. 
The  destruction  of  the  Hawke  was  a  very  notable 
feat ;  but  not  to  be  compared,  of  course,  with  the 
unheralded  attack  on  the  three  cruisers  which 
resulted  in  the  sinking  of  one  after  another — if 
the  attack  was  really  made,  as  is  claimed,  by  a 
single  submarine. 

The  names  of  the  cruisers  were  the  Aboukir, 
the  Hogue  and  the  Cressy.  They  were  not  war- 
ships of  the  newest  and  most  formidable  pattern, 
to  be  sure,  but  they  were  vessels  of  some  signifi- 
cance, none  the  less;  and  there  is  no  reason  to 
suppose  that  their  fate  would  have  been  different 
had  they  been  warships  of  the  most  formidable 
size.  For  the  modern  torpedo,  placed  as  were 
the  torpedoes  discharged  by  the  U-9,  constitutes 
a  disrupting  force  that  even  the  thickest  plates  of 
a  dreadnought  cannot  withstand. 

If  there  were  any  doubt  as  to  that,  the  doubt 
was  removed  a  few  weeks  later  when  the  super- 
dreadnought  Audacious  was  destroyed  off  the 
coast  of  Ireland  by  a  mine ;  for  there  is  no  essen- 
tial difference  (except  as  to  size)  between  the 
submarine  mine  and  the  torpedo  discharged  by  a 
submarine  vessel,  each  carrying  the  same  type  of 
explosive.  Indeed,  it  was  not  at  first  known 

[283] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

whether  the  Audacious  had  been  destroyed  by  an 
anchored  mine  or  by  a  torpedo  discharged  by  a 
submarine. 

A  further  demonstration  of  what  the  subma- 
rine boat  can  accomplish  was  given  when,  on  the 
12th  of  November,  the  British  torpedo  gunboat 
Niger  was  torpedoed  and  sunk  by  a  submarine  as 
it  lay  in  the  harbor  at  Deal.  Here  a  German  sub- 
marine had  approached  the  British  coast  in  the 
daytime  and  succeeded  in  passing  through  a 
mine  field,  presumably  going  under  the  mines,  and 
had  approached  the  pier  at  which  the  gunboat 
lay  and  discharged  its  projectile  with  telling  ef- 
fect, its  presence  having  been  quite  unsuspected 
until  its  sinister  purpose  was  effected. 

Nor  was  the  submarine  itself  seen  even  then. 
It  was  able,  apparently,  to  make  its  way  out  of 
the  harbor  as  it  had  entered,  without  encounter- 
ing a  mine  and  without  being  visible. 

And  in  so  doing  it  had  accomplished  an  un- 
precedented feat,  and  necessitated  the  writing  of  a 
new  chapter  in  naval  history.  It  had  shown  what 
the  submarine  could  do  in  the  way  of  invading 
the  harbor  of  an  enemy,  in  defiance  of  mines  and 
of  the  most  elaborate  equipment  of  coast  defense, 
just  as  its  companion  craft,  the  U-9,  had  shown 
what  might  be  accomplished,  under  favorable  con- 
ditions, on  the  high  seas. 

A  month  later  (December  13th)  a  British  sub- 
marine, the  B-ll,  performed  an  even  more  spec- 
tacular and  daring  feat  by  running  under  five 
rows  of  mines  in  the  Dardanelles  and  sinking  the 

[284] 


SUBMARINE  AND  AERIAL  WARFARE 

Turkish  warship  Messudiah,  retiring  in  safety, 
although  pursued  by  gun  fire  and  torpedo  boats. 
It  had  remained  nine  hours  under  water. 

In  the  face  of  such  achievements  the  most  skep- 
tical critic  could  no  longer  doubt  that  the  subma- 
rine vessel  is  a  war  craft  to  be  reckoned  with  in 
the  naval  contests  of  the  future.  Granted  certain 
conditions,  this  little,  frail,  submersible  shell 
might  engage  the  most  powerful  battle  ship  on 
terms  of  something  more  than  equality.  An 
enemy  that  can  approach  unseen  and  can  remain 
invisible  even  while  making  its  attack,  yet  which 
carries  a  weapon  capable  of  destroying  the  most 
powerful  battle  ship  at  a  single  blow,  is  one  that 
must  inspire  respect  not  unmingled  with  fear. 
It  supplies  one  of  two  uncalculable  factors  that 
make  it  impossible  to  predict  the  outcome  of 
naval  battles  that  otherwise  might  seem  clearly 
predetermined. 

The  other  uncertain  factor  referred  to  is,  of 
course,  the  airship,  about  which  we  shall  have 
more  to  say  presently. 

Meantime  it  should  be  observed  that  there  is 
really  nothing  surprising  about  the  successes  of 
the  submarines  just  outlined.  The  possibility 
of  constructing  submarine  vessels  that  could  blow 
up  warships  was  demonstrated  more  than  a  cen- 
tury ago  by  Bushnell  and  by  Robert  Fulton. 
Submarine  craft  were  used  in  the  American 
Civil  War,  and  in  one  case  successfully,  when  the 
Federal  ship  Housatonic  was  torpedoed  and  sunk 
in  Charleston  Harbor  on  the  night  of  February 

[285] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

17th,  1864.  And  in  recent  years  the  submarine 
has  been  so  perfected  as  to  become  a  reasonably 
safe  and  thoroughly  manageable  craft,  the  pos- 
sible efficiency  of  which  had  been  demonstrated 
again  and  again  in  nautical  tests  and  sham  battles. 

It  had  been  amply  demonstrated  that  the  pres- 
ent-day submarine  is  thoroughly  seaworthy,  and 
it  was  familiarly  known  that  the  periscope, 
through  which  light  is  reflected  into  the  subma- 
rine, enabling  its  officers  to  see  what  is  going  on 
in  the  air  above  them,  is  so  small  as  to  be  prac- 
tically invisible  from  the  deck  of  a  ship  under 
ordinary  conditions  of  surface  waves,  even  when 
so  near  that  a  torpedo  might  be  discharged  with 
almost  unfailing  aim. 

And  yet,  thanks  to  the  conservatism  of  the  gen- 
erality of  mankind,  it  is  probable  that  the  demon- 
strations of  the  capacities  of  the  submarine  in 
actual  warfare  that  were  made  in  the  early  stages 
of  the  great  European  conflict  in  the  fall  of  1914 
came  as  a  surprise  to  most  laymen,  and  to  a  very 
large  number  of  naval  experts  as  well.  Not- 
withstanding the  showing  made  by  the  submarine 
in  times  of  peace,  there  is  no  doubt  that  skepti- 
cism regarding  their  actual  capacities  as  war 
craft  was  quite  general,  and  nothing  short  of  the 
actual  demonstration  in  war  of  their  efficiency 
could  dispel  this  skepticism. 

But  after  one  submarine  had  sunk  four  war- 
ships on  the  high  seas,  and  another  craft  of  the 
same  type  had  entered  a  fortified  harbor  and  sunk 
a  war  vessel  at  its  pier,  there  remained  little 

[286] 


SUBMARINE  AND  AERIAL  WARFARE 

opportunity  for  skepticism.  The  long-despised 
submarine  had  at  last  come  to  its  own.  The  pre- 
dictions of  its  advocates  were  verified. 

A  new  chapter  of  naval  history  had  been  writ- 
ten, and  again  the  question  became  pertinent  as 
to  whether  the  steel-clad  leviathan,  grown  to 
such  startling  dimensions  in  the  most  recent  dec- 
ade, does  not  represent  a  type  that  must  soon 
be  superseded.  At  least  it  must  be  given  addi- 
tional protection — perhaps  by  the  use  of  a  second 
shell  of  armor  a  few  feet  inside  the  hull. 

CAPACITIES    AND    LIMITATIONS    OF    THE    SUBMARINE 

Probably  the  greatest  present  defect  of  the  sub- 
mersible vessel  is  its  relative  lack  of  speed.  It  is 
obvious  that  in  such  a  craft  there  is  great  need  of 
conserving  the  supply  of  oxygen,  and  of  course  it 
is  impossible  to  utilize  large  quantities  of  fuel 
without  drawing  correspondingly  upon  the  atmos- 
phere for  oxygen.  Also  there  results  a  corre- 
sponding vitiation  of  the  atmosphere  through  the 
production  of  combustion.  Moreover,  space  is  at 
a  premium,  and  both  machinery  and  fuel  must  be 
kept  at  a  relative  minimum. 

Most  submarines  hitherto,  in  recent  years,  have 
been  propelled  by  gasoline  engines  when  working 
at  the  surface,  and  by  storage  batteries  when  sub- 
merged. The  crude  early  submarines  were  pro- 
pelled by  hand,  but  of  course  vessels  of  this  type 
would  be  as  much  out  of  date  in  a  modern  navy 
as  would  rowboats  at  the  surface.  Attempts 

[287] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

have  been  made  to  utilize  steam  as  the  motive 
power,  but  this  has  obvious  disadvantages. 

It  is  reported  that  very  recently  the  Dirsel 
engine  has  been  used  as  the  motive  power  for 
submarines,  and  it  would  seem  as  if  this  might  be 
almost  an  ideal  motor.  It  uses  crude  oil,  which 
is  introduced  into  the  cylinder  under  high  pres- 
sure and  exploded  there  by  the  heat  of  compres- 
sion, and  it  develops  a  high  degree  of  efficiency. 
With  the  use  of  these  engines  it  seems  probable 
that  the  speed  of  the  submarine,  when  operating 
at  the  surface,  may  be  increased  greatly  beyond 
the  present  maximum  of  sixteen  to  eighteen  knots 
per  hour. 

When  the  submarine  operates  at  the  surface  a 
part  of  its  power  may  be  utilized  to  charge  its 
storage  batteries,  which  supply  the  motive  power 
when  the  apparatus  is  submerged.  Unfortunately 
storage  batteries  are  very  cumbersome  and  have 
relatively  low  power  in  proportion  to  their  weight. 
Mr.  Edison  has  done  much  to  improve  the  storage 
battery  in  recent  years,  and  it  has  been  reported 
that  he  contemplates  building  a  type  of  battery 
especially  adapted  to  the  submarine.  Whatever 
the  truth  of  this  report,  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  the  development  of  an  improved  type  of 
storage  battery  would  greatly  increase  the  effi- 
ciency of  the  submarine,  by  increasing  its  power, 
which  is  of  course  equivalent  to  increasing  its 
speed. 

If  the  submarine  could  be  made  to  double  its 
present  maximum  speed  of  eleven  to  twelve  knots 
'  [288] 


SUBMARINE  AND  AERIAL  WARFARE 

per  hour  when  submerged,  its  value  as  a  fighting 
craft  would  be  enormously  enhanced,  as  it  would 
then  be  able  to  overtake  a  battle  ship  under  full 
headway  in  the  open  sea.  At  present  it  must  ap- 
proach its  quarry  by  stealth,  and  a  ship  which 
keeps  in  motion  may  readily  elude  it. 

Now  that  the  submarine  has  thoroughly  demon- 
strated its  value,  however,  there  can  be  little  ques- 
tion that  its  limitations  as  to  speed  will  be  given 
a  large  measure  of  attention  on  the  part  of  naval 
architects,  and  there  would  seem  to  be  nothing 
inherent  in  the  nature  of  the  problem  to  prevent 
a  development  of  submarines  having  speed  equal 
to  that  of  the  fastest  cruisers.  At  the  moment 
the  tendency  is  to  make  the  submarine  larger  and 
larger;  but  it  is  quite  possible  that  a  solution  of 
the  problem  may  first  be  found  by  reducing  the 
size,  so  that  a  type  of  very  small  submarine  hav- 
ing great  speed  is  developed. 

For  harbor  defense  a  fleet  of  very  small  sub- 
marines having  great  speed  might  give  almost 
absolute  protection,  it  would  seem,  against  the 
most  powerful  battle  ships. 

But  of  course  there  would  remain  the  problem 
of  submarine  versus  submarine.  As  yet  there 
have  been  no  battles  in  which  one  submarine  was 
matched  against  another.  But  doubtless  such  en- 
counters will  occur  in  the  not  distant  future,  and 
this  possibility  must  be  taken  into  account.  Here- 
tofore the  submarine  has  scarcely  been  considered 
as  a  defensive  mechanism,  but  only  as  a  craft  cal- 
culated to  take  the  offensive.  As  qualifying  this, 
I  289  ] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

however,  it  must  be  recalled  that  within  recent 
years  a  good  many  submarines,  notably  those  of 
the  English  navy,  have  been  provided  with  small 
cannon,  which  can  be  elevated  to  the  deck  and 
used  for  defense  against  such  small  craft  as  tor- 
pedo destroyers  when  the  vessel  is  operating  at 
the  surface. 

The  best  defense  of  the  submarine,  however,  is 
to  place  itself  beyond  the  reach  of  the  enemy  by 
diving  beneath  the  surface — a  feat  that  requires 
only  a  few  minutes. 

Even  when  riding  at  the  surface,  the  submarine 
of  course  offers  a  very  small  target.  From  its 
lookout  tower  the  funnels  of  a  hostile  ship  would 
be  discovered  long  before  the  turtlelike  back  of 
the  submarine  itself  was  visible  from  the  crow's- 
nest  of  the  enemy;  and  four  or  five  minutes  later 
nothing  but  the  periscope  of  the  little  vessel  need 
remain  above  the  surface — not  even  that,  indeed, 
should  the  navigator  decide  to  take  a  yet  deeper 
dive. 

Under  such  circumstances  it  would  seem  as  if  a 
submarine  might  readily  enough  make  its  escape 
even  surrounded  by  an  entire  fleet  of  surface  ves- 
sels, perhaps  pausing  to  cripple  or  destroy  two 
or  three  of  its  pursuers  with  a  torpedo  for  each 
as,  itself  quite  invisible,  it  passed  through  the 
line. 


[290] 


SUBMARINE  AND  AERIAL  WARFARE 

AEEIAX,  SCOUTING 

Should  a  sharp-eyed  lookout  discover  the  peri- 
scope of  the  little  vessel,  however,  it  is  obvious 
that  the  peril  of  the  submarine  might  be  very 
great.  A  well-placed  shell  or  two  from  a  battle 
ship,  exploded  in  the  water  just  above  it,  would 
work  its  destruction.  Or  it  might  be  rammed  by 
a  torpedo  boat  or  a  torpedo  boat  destroyer.  And 
against  such  attacks  its  only  refuge  would  be  to 
settle  rapidly  to  a  greater  depth.  The  submarine 
that  torpedoed  the  British  cruiser  Pathfinder  is 
said  to  have  been  fatally  rammed  by  the  doomed 
vessel  before  the  latter  experienced  the  full  ef- 
fect of  the  injury  that  sent  it  also  to  the  bottom 
soon  after  it  had  thus  retaliated  on  its  enemy. 

Again,  the  French  cruiser  Waldeck  Rousseau, 
on  November  19th,  1914,  when  attacked  by  aero- 
plane, destroyer,  and  submarine,  rammed  the  lat- 
ter effectively,  and  itself  remained  uninjured. 

But  experience  has  shown  that  it  is  extremely 
difficult  to  discover  the  periscope  of  the  submarine 
from  the  bridge  or  lookout  stations  of  a  battle 
ship,  even  when  it  is  known  that  the  submerged 
boats  are  in  the  neighborhood.  So  the  danger 
from  this  source  is  slight. 

It  has  been  found,  on  the  other  hand,  that  an 
observer  in  an  airship,  looking  directly  down 
upon  the  water,  can  often  see  objects  at  a  con- 
siderable depth.  So  it  would  appear  that  the 
submarine  Js  chief  danger  is  from  aerial  craft.  It 
is  rather  curious  that  these  two  newest  types  of 

[291] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

fighting  mechanisms  should  thus  be  pitted  against 
each  other. 

To  attack  from  such  a  source  the  submarine 
obviously  has  no  response;  so  there  would  seem 
to  be  no  reason  why  the  dirigible  balloon  or  aero- 
plane might  not  fly  directly  over  the  submerged 
vessel,  once  it  is  discovered,  and  drop  explosives 
into  the  water  just  above  it  with  destructive  ef- 
fect. 

The  air  craft  which  may  thus  be  expected  in  a 
measure  to  checkmate  the  submarine  constitute  so 
recent  and  so  spectacular  an  addition  to  the  fight- 
ing equipment  of  our  navies  and  armies  that  the 
history  of  their  introduction  is  familiar,  at  least 
in  general  terms,  to  everyone. 

It  will  be  recalled  that  M.  Santos-Dumont  made 
his  spectacular  flight  about  the  Eiffel  Tower  at 
Paris,  which  first  clearly  demonstrated  the  pos- 
sibilities of  controlling  the  direction  of  flight  of  a 
balloon,  in  the  year  1901.  Almost  simultaneously 
the  first  successful  flights  of  Count  Zeppelin 's 
airships  began  to  be  made. 

Two  years  later,  in  December,  1903,  the  first 
flight  in  a  heavier-than-air  machine  was  made  by 
the  Wright  brothers  at  Kittyhawk,  North  Caro- 
lina. 

Several  years  elapsed,  however,  after  the  first 
partially  successful  trials  of  the  dirigible  bal- 
loons, before  these  mechanisms  were  developed  to 
a  stage  at  which  they  assumed  even  relative  use- 
fulness. And  the  aeroplane  of  the  Wright  broth- 
ers remained  quite  unknown  to  the  general  public 

[292] 


SUBMARINE  AND  AERIAL  WARFARE 

for  more  than  four  years  after  its  practicability 
was  demonstrated,  during  which  time  the  invent- 
ors vainly  strove  to  interest  the  military  authori- 
ties of  their  own  government,  and  were  only  par- 
tially successful  in  attracting  the  attention  of 
foreign  governments,  to  which  they  turned  after 
Washington  had  persistently  refused  to  give  their 
wonderful  new  war  machine  a  trial. 

So  the  extraordinary  and  unprecedented  de- 
velopment of  the  dirigible  air  craft,  which  has  re- 
sulted in  giving  fleets  of  these  vessels  to  every 
important  military  power,  has  taken  place  within 
a  very  brief  term  of  years. 

He  would  have  been  regarded  as  a  visionary 
and  foolhardy  prophet  who  had  predicted  at  the 
beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  that  in  the 
next  great  European  war  flying  machines  would 
play  a  conspicuous  part,  modifying  almost  to  the 
point  of  revolution  the  tactics  of  attack  and  de- 
fense. Yet  such  has  proved  to  be  the  case. 

By  the  time  when  the  great  conflict  broke  out 
in  Europe  in  the  late  summer  of  1914  each  of  the 
chief  participants  in  that  conflict  was  provided 
with  a  notable  array  of  dirigible  balloons  and 
aeroplanes;  and  the  latter  type  of  craft  in  par- 
ticular had  already  demonstrated  their  value  as 
accessories  to  the  military  organization  in  a  num- 
ber of  minor  conflicts,  notably  in  the  Balkan  wars 
and  in  Mexico.  From  the  outset,  then,  companies 
of  airmen  were  requisitioned  at  the  front,  and 
their  scouting  capacities  gave  the  tacticians  such 
sweeping  vision  as  has  never  hitherto  been  pos- 

[293] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

sible,  and  made  it  out  of  the  question  to  hope  to 
move  considerable  bodies  of  troops  into  any  ter- 
ritory within  a  hundred  miles  or  so  of  the  enemy 
without  his  full  knowledge. 

Not  only  could  the  airmen  discover  the  move- 
ments of  the  enemy,  and  thus  frustrate  any  at- 
tempts at  surprise,  but  on  occasion  they  gave  ad- 
ditional service  by  dropping  smoke-producing 
bombs  directly  above  the  enemy's  intrenchments, 
thus  supplying  a  visible  object  which  could  be 
sighted  by  the  range  finders  of  their  own  army. 

The  airmen  performed  a  service  of  another 
kind  by  flying  far  into  the  country  of  the  enemy, 
and  terrorizing  the  inhabitants  by  dropping 
bombs  here  and  there.  In  the  course  of  these 
raids,  successful  attempts  were  made  to  drop 
bombs  on  the  hangars  in  which  balloons  of  the 
enemy  were  housed,  and  it  would  appear  that  va- 
rious dirigibles  were  thus  put  out  of  commission. 
A  notable  instance  of  this  was  the  flight  of  three 
English  aeronauts  on  November  22d,  1914,  from 
French  territory  to  the  headquarters  of  the 
Zeppelins  at  Friedrichshafen.  After  dropping 
bombs,  two  of  the  airmen  returned  safely,  the 
third  being  brought  down,  wounded,  by  the  rifle 
fire  of  the  defenders. 

Meantime  dirigible  balloons  had  made  night 
forays  into  the  territory  of  the  enemy,  dropping 
bombs  with  destructive  effect,  in  particular  upon 
the  buildings  of  Antwerp. 

But  in  general  it  may  be  said  that  the  early  his- 
tory of  the  air  craft  in  the  great  conflict  which 

[294] 


SUBMARINE  AND  AERIAL  WARFARE 

first  gave  opportunity  to  test  their  capacities  re- 
vealed them  as  scouting  mechanisms,  rather  than 
as  mechanisms  of  offensive  warfare.  The  quan- 
tity of  explosives  that  an  aeroplane  could  carry  is 
at  best  limited,  and  the  accuracy  with  which  these 
can  be  discharged  from  a  height  is  not  very  great. 
The  dirigible  balloon  could  of  course  carry  a  far 
larger  supply  of  explosives,  which  could  perhaps 
be  discharged  with  greater  accuracy,  inasmuch 
as  the  machine  might  be  headed  into  the  wind  and 
held  practically  stationary;  but  the  extreme  vul- 
nerability of  the  dirigible  greatly  restricts  its  pos- 
sibilities in  this  direction. 

Not  only  is  the  dirigible  in  great  danger  of  de- 
struction by  missiles  dscharged  from  the  earth 
by  guns  especially  constructed  for  that  purpose, 
but  it  must,  under  ordinary  circumstances,  be 
quite  at  the  mercy  of  any  aeroplane  that  can  rise 
above  it  and  sweep  over  it,  carrying  a  bomb  sus- 
pended from  a  thin  cable. 

It  is  by  no  means  certain,  however,  that  a  fleet 
of  dirigibles  invading  the  enemy's  territory  un- 
expectedly at  night  might  not  attack  a  fortified 
position  or  a  fleet  of  ships  with  very  destructive 
effect.  The  possibility  of  such  an  attack  is  one 
that  the  military  and  naval  authorities  must  bear 
constantly  in  mind.  The  order  restricting  the 
lighting  of  London  to  the  minimum  requirements, 
that  the  location  of  the  city  might  be  difficult  to 
discover  from  the  point  of  view  of  an  airship, 
gives  tangible  illustration  of  the  recognition  of 
this  danger. 

[295] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

It  must  be  understood,  also,  that  the  offensive 
equipment  of  the  airship  is  by  no  means  confined 
to  bombs  to  be  dropped  or  thrown  by  hand.  A 
special  armament  of  guns  has  also  been  provided 
for  the  great  dirigibles,  notwithstanding  the 
danger  that  must  accompany  the  use  of  explosives 
in  the  vicinity  of  their  gaseous  envelopes. 

To  minimize  this  danger  it  is  said  that  the  new- 
est Zeppelins  are  provided  with  cagelike  recep- 
tacles to  be  suspended  five  hundred  meters  below 
the  body  of  the  balloon  by  a  thin  cable.  The  cage 
is  designed  to  have  a  single  occupant,  who  will 
manipulate  the  gigantic  bombs  or  torpedoes  car- 
ried thus  at  a  safe  distance  from  the  inflammable 
gas  of  the  balloon. 

In  the  attempt  to  guard  against  the  attacks  of 
aeroplanes,  the  Zeppelins  are  said  to  have  ma- 
chine guns  mounted  on  top  of  the  gas  bag,  their 
operator  being  in  telephonic  communication  with 
the  navigator  in  the  car  under  the  balloon.  Ma- 
chine guns  of  special  construction  are  also  car- 
ried in  the  main  car  itself. 

Meantime  it  is  said  that  Sir  Hiram  Maxim  and 
others  have  invented  bullets  that  will  set  fire  to 
the  hydrogen,  thus  destroying  the  airship,  if  they 
penetrate  its  envelope.  To  meet  this  danger,  the 
airships  are  shielded  as  far  as  practicable  with 
metal  plates ;  but  of  course  the  weight  makes  the 
use  of  anything  like  an  effective  armor  plating 
impossible. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  small  body  of  the  aero- 
plane may  be  plated  with  metal  of  sufficient  thick- 

[296] 


SUBMARINE  AND  AERIAL  WARFARE 

ness  to  give  a  good  degree  of  protection  to  its  oc- 
cupant against  rifle  balls  fired  from  below  or 
from  either  side.  And  although  the  wings  of  the 
aeroplane  cannot  thus  be  protected,  this  is  a 
matter  of  no  great  consequence,  as  ordinary  bul- 
lets may  penetrate  them  in  almost  indefinite 
numbers  without  doing  material  injury. 

The  offensive  equipment  of  the  aeroplane  in- 
cludes ordinary  bombs,  to  be  dropped  by  hand  or 
through  a  tube  designed  to  give  them  direction; 
bombs  with  hooks  designed  to  be  carried  at  the 
end  of  a  cable  and  swung  against  the  side  of  a 
balloon;  and  sheafs  of  arrows  a  few  inches  in 
length  and  weighing  about  an  ounce  each.  The 
latter  are  said  to  be  carried  and  discharged  in 
packets  of  one  thousand  by  the  French  airmen. 
When  discharged  from  an  altitude  of  two  or  three 
thousand  feet,  they  attain  enormous  velocity, 
their  momentum  being  sufficient  to  carry  them 
clear  through  the  body  of  a  horse  and  rider.  No 
doubt  these  missiles  have  proved  effective  on  oc- 
casion when  launched  against  bodies  of  men 
marching  or  lined  up  in  the  trenches ;  and  it  was 
reported  in  December,  1914,  that  a  German,  Gen- 
eral Von  Meyer,  was  struck  by  one  of  these 
missiles  and  instantly  killed  when  descending 
from  his  automobile  in  Belgium. 

Guns  have  also  been  especially  designed  for  use 
in  the  aeroplane.  An  interesting  example  of  this 
type  of  weapon  is  a  rapid-firing  gun  invented  by 
an  American  officer,  which  is  provided  with  a  cor- 
rugated aluminum  jacket,  to  minimize  heating  by 

[297] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

facilitating  radiation;  and  which,  as  has  been 
demonstrated,  can  be  used  effectively  from  the 
vantage  ground  of  an  aeroplane  in  full  flight.  In 
aeroplanes  of  the  monoplane  type  the  machine 
gun  is  mounted  above  the  body  of  the  machine,  in 
front  of  the  pilot.  In  the  biplane  the  operator 
of  the  gun  may  sit  beside  the  pilot,  or  in  a  seat 
especially  designed  for  his  use  under  the  seat  of 
the  pilot,  beneath  the  lower  plane.  The  latter  ar- 
rangement, as  adopted  in  some  English  biplanes, 
seems  to  give  the  pivoted  machine  gun  peculiar 
advantages  in  directing  its  missiles  against  troops 
of  soldiers  on  the  ground  or  against  the  deck  of 
a  ship. 

The  chief  use  of  such  a  weapon,  however,  will 
be  in  offensive  or  defensive  conflict  with  another 
airman,  rather  than  in  attacks  directed  against 
forces  at  the  surface  of  land  or  water.  Nothing 
hitherto  developed  suggests  that  the  flying  corps 
are  likely  to  have  real  significance  in  competition 
with  the  infantry  and  artillery  services  or  the 
regular  naval  equipment  of  the  modern  military 
machine,  although  their  place  as  invaluable 
auxiliaries  is  incontestably  established. 

It  does  seem  within  the  possibilities,  however, 
that  a  modified  type  of  aeroplane  may  come  to 
perform  the  function  of  an  aerial  torpedo ;  and  if 
this  prediction  should  be  verified,  our  navies  will 
be  supplied  with  a  new  weapon  of  quite  unex- 
ampled destructiveness. 

Justification  for  the  prediction  is  found  in  the 
success  that  has  attended  recent  efforts  to  sta- 

[298] 


SUBMARINE  AND  AERIAL  WARFARE 

bilize  the  aeroplane  by  means  of  gyroscopic  ap- 
paratus. The  efforts  of  Mr.  Elmer  E.  Sperry,  in 
particular,  have  been  notably  successful.  He  had 
developed  a  gyroscopic  mechanism  that  stabilizes 
the  aeroplane  both  laterally  and  longitudinally, 
adjusting  it  so  to  meet  the  shifting  currents  that 
the  pilot  is  enabled  to  navigate  it  for  almost  an 
indefinite  period  without  touching  the  levers.  Mr. 
Sperry  made  a  spectacular  demonstration  of  the 
powers  of  his  gyroscopic  stablizer  for  the  military 
authorities  of  France  in  the  spring  of  1914,  re- 
ceiving a  large  monetary  prize  as  evidence  of  his 
success  in  the  contest. 

Another  interesting  demonstration  was  made  in 
January,  1915,  when  Mr.  Sperry 's  son  piloted  a 
gyro-stabilized  aeroplane  from  the  Brooklyn  Navy 
Yard  to  West  Point  and  return,  passing  alter- 
nately over  and  under  the  East  River  bridges,  and 
seeming  to  ignore  the  treacherous  air  currents 
that  make  such  a  trip  exceptionally  hazardous. 

Mr.  Sperry 's  gyroscopes  are  not  powerful  af- 
fairs capable  of  counteracting  the  force  of  air 
currents  directly,  after  the  manner  of  the  Schlick 
gyroscope  in  controlling  the  motion  of  ships  at  sea. 
On  the  contrary,  they  are  small  and  relatively 
feeble  mechanisms,  which  exert  their  influence 
solely  on  the  warping  device  (or  its  equivalent) 
of  the  wings  of  the  aeroplane  to  promote  the  lat- 
eral stability,  and  on  the  horizontal  rudders  to 
give  longitudinal  stability.  By  their  automatic 
action,  they  control  the  warping  device  and  the 
horizontal  rudder  so  effectively  as  to  give  the 

[299] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

aeroplane  stability  even  in  the  midst  of  the  most 
shifting  and  vacillating  of  air  currents.  Once  they 
are  set  in  motion,  they  operate  quite  independently 
of  human  control,  and  there  is  apparently  no 
reason  why  they  should  not  stabilize,  within  cer- 
tain limits,  an  aeroplane  that  had  no  pilot. 

Should  experiment  prove  this  to  be  possible, 
there  would  appear  to  be  no  reason  why  Mr.  Ham- 
mond's device  for  radio-control,  which  has  proved 
so  effective  in  the  case  of  his  radio-controlled  ship 
and  torpedo,  should  not  be  applied  to  the  aero- 
plane as  well.  It  would  be  necessary,  of  course, 
to  control  horizontal  as  well  as  vertical  rudders, 
thus  complicating  the  problem  slightly,  but  seem- 
ingly introducing  no  new  principle. 

Mr.  Hammond  directs  his  radio-ship  in  any 
desired  course.  He  sends  it  out  to  sea  eight 
miles — as  far  as  it  can  be  well  observed  with  the 
telescope — and  causes  it  to  turn  about  and  come 
back  to  its  dock  directly  or  in  any  zigzag  course 
that  may  be  suggested. 

He  could  cause  it  to  drive  straight  at  a  target, 
say  another  ship;  and  if,  through  some  error  of 
the  operator,  it  missed  its  mark,  it  could  be  made 
to  turn  about  and  pursue  the  object,  running  it 
down  with  a  certainty  conditioned  only  on  its  rela- 
tive speed  and  the  accuracy  of  vision  of  the  di- 
rector on  shore  who  controlled  the  electrical  waves 
that  actuate  its  steering  mechanism. 

Suppose  now  that  this  device  for  radio-control 
were  applied  to  an  aeroplane  stabilized  with  gyro- 
scopes and  sent  into  the  air  without  a  human  pilot, 

[300] 


SUBMARINE  AND  AERIAL  WARFARE 

but  carrying  a  ton  or  two  of  dynamite  or  other 
high  explosive  in  lieu  of  passengers.  There  is 
no  obvious  reason  why  such  an  air  craft  might 
not  be  caused  to  navigate  the  air  and  to  descend, 
at  will  of  the  distant  operator,  upon  the  deck  of  a 
warship  or  upon  a  fortification  with  unerring  ac- 
curacy and  with  appalling  destructiveness. 

The  advantage  of  such  a  projectile  over  a  sub- 
marine torpedo  would  be  its  far  wider  range  of 
action,  owing  to  its  visibility,  its  greatly  enhanced 
speed,  and  the  annihilative  momentum  it  would 
acquire  when  launched  from  a  height;  coupled 
with  the  fact  that  it  would  normally  descend  on 
the  relatively  unprotected  decks  of  the  ship  in- 
stead of  meeting  the  resistance  of  heavy  armor 
plate. 

Of  course  the  aeroplane  torpedo  would  be  visible 
to  the  enemy  as  well  as  to  its  directors,  but  it 
could  be  made  to  take  a  zigzag  course  that  would 
make  it  an  exceedingly  difficult  target  to  hit;  the 
probability  of  getting  its  range  at  a  distance  would 
be  almost  negligible,  and  even  though  it  were 
riddled  with  bullets  as  it  neared  the  mark,  the 
effectiveness  of  its  impact  would  not  be  lessened. 

All  this,  of  course,  is  theoretical.  As  yet  there 
is  no  record  of  the  launching  of  a  passengerless, 
let  alone  a  radio-controlled  aeroplane.  But  that 
such  attempts  will  be  made  in  the  near  future  can- 
not well  be  doubted ;  and  it  requires  no  great  use 
of  the  imagination  to  conceive,  that  should  these 
attempts  be  met  with  such  success  as  seems  prob- 
able, the  radio-controlled  aeroplane  may  have  an 

[  301  ] 


MODERN  WARFARE 

important  share,  in  conjunction  with,  the  sub- 
marine, the  radio-controlled  boat  and  torpedo,  and 
the  man-controlled  airship,  in  completing  the 
transformation  of  military  methods.  The  warfare 
of  to-day  is  something  very  different  from  the  war- 
fare of  half  a  century  ago;  the  warfare  of  to- 
morrow will  doubtless  show  still  more  startling 
developments  and  transformations.  The  precise 
nature  of  these  transformations  can  of  course  be 
only  conjectural;  yet  at  least  their  general  char- 
acter would  seem  to  be  adumbrated  in  the  scientific 
developments  of  our  own  time. 

And,  however  much  we  may  deprecate  the  fact, 
it  would  appear  that  all  signs  seem  to  indicate  that 
the  application  of  scientific  knowledge  in  the  de- 
velopment of  mechanisms  of  warfare  is  likely  to 
make  war  not  impossible,  as  visionaries  have 
dreamed,  but  merely  more  destructive.  The  war- 
less  age,  if  it  ever  comes,  will  be  the  fruitage  of  a 
civilization  some  hundreds  of  generations  subse- 
quent to  our  own. 


THE  END 


[302] 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Acoustic  range  finder,  an  early 
type  of  range  finder  utiliz- 
ing sound  waves,  190. 

Aerial  scouting,  as  safeguard 
against  the  submarine, 
291. 

Aeroplane,    first   flown   by   the 
Wright  brothers,  in   1903, 
292; 
used  in  Balkan  wars  and  in 

Mexico,    293; 

its    use    in    the    Great    Eu- 
ropean War,  294; 
the    offensive    equipment   of, 

297; 

possible  control    of,  by  wire- 
less, 301. 

Albemarle,  a  Confederate  iron- 
clad sunk  by  a  torpedo, 
111. 

Almirante  Oquendo,  Spanish 
ship,  destroyed  by  explo- 
sion of  its  own  torpedo, 
115. 

America's  new   navy,   212. 

Ammunition,  "  fixed "  versus 
"  separate  loading,"  for 
heavy  ordnance,  143. 

Arabs,  said  to  have  used  gun- 
powder    in     rockets     and 
shells  in  13th  century,  3; 
used  primitive  cannon  bored 
into  rocks,  7. 

Archimedes,  credited  with  a 
knowledge  of  gunpowder, 
2. 

Armor,  steel,  various  types  of, 
54. 

Armored  cruiser,  the  ship  next 
in  rank  to  the  battle  ship, 
211. 

Armor-piercing  projectiles,  ear- 
ly types  of,  50. 


Armstrong,  William,  designs  a 
new  type  of  rifled  cannon, 

Artillery,  field,  evolution  of, 
173. 

Askold,  Russian  unarmored 
cruiser,  her  escape  from 
Japanese  attack,  226. 

Audacious,  a  British  super- 
dreadnought  destroyed  by 
a  mine,  121; 

a  British  superdreadnought 
crippled  by  a  mine,  240. 

Automobile  torpedo,  first  used 
successfully  in  Chilian 
Revolutionary  War  of 
1891,  116. 

B-ll,  designation  of  the  British 
submarine  that  ran  under 
mines  in  the  Dardanelles 
and  attacked  a  Turkish 
warship,  284. 

Bacon,  Roger,  probably  gained 
knowledge  of  gunpowder 
from  the  Arabs,  3. 

Bar-shot,  description  of,  42. 

Battle  Ship  of  To-day,  The, 
Chapter  X,  223. 

Battle    ship,    the    evolution    of 

the,  195; 

the  most  heavily  armored 
type  of  modern  warship, 
210. 

Bayonets,  invention  and  early 
types  of,  25. 

Benham,  General  H.  W.,  in- 
ventor of  the  military 
spade,  279. 

Beriberi,    stamped  out  by  diet 

in  the  Japanese  navy,  245; 

the    cause    of    one-half    the 

sickness    in    the    Japanese 


[305] 


INDEX 


army     in     Russo-Japanese 
War,  247. 

Berthelot,  French  chemist,  tests 
explosive  power  of  gun- 
powder, 270. 

Bliss-Leavitt  torpedo,  its  use 
of  compressed  air,  120. 

Block  action,  description  of,  84. 

Block  sight,  a  form  of  gun 
sight,  179. 

"  Bolt-action "  guns,  descrip- 
tion of,  86. 

Brake,  as  applied  to  field  artil- 
lery, 175. 

Breech  block,  the  "interrupted 
screw"  system,  137. 

Breech-loading     cannon,     new 

types  invented,  71; 
disadvantages  of  early  types, 

74; 
construction  of,  137. 

Breech-loading  guns,  difference 
between  sporting  and  mili- 
tary, 83. 

Breech-loading  rifles,  not  at 
first  popular,  79. 

Breech-loading  Small  Arms, 
Chapter  V,  78. 

Built-up  cannon,  how  con- 
structed, 72. 

Bullet,    the    advantages    of    a 

small,  for  the  rifle,  101; 

the  rifle,  made  of  or  jacketed 

with   cupro-nickel,   102. 

Burr,  Captain  George  W.,  de- 
scribes an  American  field 
gun,  176. 

Bushnell,  an  American,  made 
early  experiments  with  the 
torpedo,  110. 

Canister,  description  of,  43. 
Cannon,  used  at  the  battle  of 
Cr6cy,  in  1346,  3; 

primitive,  were  breech-load- 
ers, 4; 

the  first,  made  of  strips  of 
metal  fastened  together  by 
hoops  of  iron,  4; 

of  enormous  size,  used  in 
India  in  the  16th  century, 
6; 


Cannon,    bored    into   rocks,   7; 

for  field  use,  said  to  have 
been  made  serviceable  by 
Charles  VIII  of  France,  8; 

of  Gustavus  Adolphus,   8; 

leather  wound,  used  by  Gus- 
tavus Adolphus,  9; 

how  classified,  60; 

naval,  methods  of  loading, 
61; 

how  fired,  62; 

use  of  the  Hidden  hammer 
on,  63; 

the  introduction  of  rifled. 
68; 

defects  of  smooth-bore,  70; 

advantages  of  the  built-up 
type,  72; 

defects  of  early  breech-load- 
ing, 74; 

one-hundred-ton  guns  of  sev- 
enteen and  five-tenths-inch 
caliber,  74; 

fatal  accident  in  loading  the 
old  type,  75; 

Modern  Breech-loading, 
Chapter  VII,  136; 

fourteen-inch  guns  used  on 
superdreadnoughts,  148; 

durability  of  modern,  149 ; 

built-up  and  wire-wound 
types,  149; 

how  they  are  aimed,  187; 

first  introduced  on  shipboard 

in  the  14th  century,  197. 
Carcase,  an  early  form  of  hol- 
low shell,  45. 

Carronade,  a  form  of  naval  can- 
non, 61. 

Cartridge,  metallic,  an  Ameri- 
can invention,  early  adopt- 
ed by  Prussians,  82. 
Case-shot,  description  of,  52. 
Cavalli,    a    Sardinian,    invents 
the     breech-loading     rifled 
cannon,  71. 
Cavalry,  improved  by  Gustavus 

Adolphus,  18. 

Cesarevitch,      Russian      battle 
ship,    in    battle    with    the 
Japanese,  223. 
Chain-shot,   description  of,  42. 

[306] 


INDEX 


Chandler,  Lieutenant  L.  H., 
comments  on  the  use  of 
the  torpedo,  118. 

Charles  VIII  of  France,  re- 
puted to  have  made  cannon 
serviceable  for  the  field, 
8. 

Chinese,  credited  with  the  in- 
vention of  gunpowder,  2. 

Civil  War,  American,  relative 
mortality  from  disease  and 
bullets,  243. 

Colt,  Colonel  Samuel,  the  Amer- 
ican inventor  of  the  re- 
volver, 88. 

Colt  machine  gun,  its  mechan- 
ism for  cooling,  159. 

Colt  revolver,  89 ;  see  also  "  Re- 
volver "  and  "Pistol." 

Colt  revolving  rifle,  its  defects, 
92. 

Compressed  air,  its  use  in  the 
automobile  torpedo, 
120. 

Connecticut,  a  fine  American 
ship  of  the  predread- 
nought  type,  220. 

Cordite,  an  important  form  of 
modern  explosive,  273. 

Cre"cy,  battle  of,  cannon  said  to 
have  been  used  at,  3. 

Crotch  sight,  a  form  of  gun 
sight,  179. 

Cuirassiers,  in  Germany,  under 
Gustavus  Adolphus,  18. 

Cupro-nickel,  its  use  for  mak- 
ing rifle  bullets,  102. 

Gushing,  Lieutenant,  sank  the 
Albemarle  with  a  torpedo, 
111. 

"  Cut-off,"  the,  as  applied  to 
the  magazine  rifle,  103. 

Delvigne,  a  French  officer,  im- 
proves the  rifle,  38. 

Destroyer,  torpedo  boat,  de- 
vised to  cope  with  the  tor- 
pedo boat,  128. 

Development  of  Small  Arms, 
The,  Chapter  II,  19. 

Dirigible  balloon,  first  success- 
fully used  by  Santos-Du- 


mont  and  Count  Zeppelin 
independently,   292; 

Dirigible    balloon,    modern    ar- 
mies   equipped   with,   293; 
equipment  of  the  recent  Zep- 
pelins, 296. 

Disappearing  carriage,  for 
heavy  guns,  170. 

Disappearing  gun,  rate  of  fire 
and  advantages  of,  171. 

Disease,  Grappling  with,  Chap, 
ter  XI,  241. 

Disease,  more  deadly  than  bul- 
lets in  warfare,  241. 

"  Double-action "  revolver,  its 
advantages  and  defects,  93. 

Dragoons,  in  Germany,  under 
Gustavus  Adolphus,  18. 

Dreadnought,    the,     a    British 
warship    that    became    the 
type  of  a  new  class  of  war- 
ships, 233; 
of  the  American  navy,  237. 

Dynamite,  its  explosive  power 
due  to  nitroglycerin,  269. 

Dynamite  gun,  invented  by 
Captain  Zalinski,  126. 

"Dynamite  ships,"  used  to 
clear  mine  field,  125. 

Electric  fuse,  used  to  discharge 
heavy  ordnance,  140. 

Electro-contact  mines,  a  type  of 
submarine  mine,  123. 

Elongated  projectiles,  made  ef- 
fective by  rifled  bore,  48. 

Ericsson,  John,  builder  of  the 
Monitor,  203. 

Evolution  of  the  Battle  Ship, 
Chapter  IX,  195. 

Explosion  versus  combustion, 
264. 

Explosives,  Modern,  Chapter 
XII,  259. 

Explosives,  their  action  ex- 
plained, 262. 

Explosive  shells,  in  use  as 
early  as  the  15th  century, 
44. 


Field    artillery,    evolution    of, 
173. 


[307] 


INDEX 


Firearms,  used  in  Europe  as 
early  as  1346,  3. 

Fire-lock,  or  match-lock,  in- 
troduced in  reign  of  Henry 
VII,  19. 

Fixed  ammunition,  its  advan- 
tages and  disadvantages 
for  heavy  ordnance,  143. 

Flint-lock,    introduced   in    16th 

century,  22; 

known  as  the  snaphaunce,  22 ; 
its  operation  and  importance, 

23; 

defects  of,  24; 
its  use  on  the  cannon,  62. 

Forsyth,  a  Scotch  clergyman, 
invents  the  percussion  cap 
in  1807,  35. 

"Forty-five,"  the  passing  of 
the,  101. 

Forty-two-centimeter  guns,  of 
the  howitzer  type  used  by 
the  Germans  in  the  Great 
European  War,  260. 

Friction  tube,  as  used  in  firing 
the  cannon,  65. 

Fulminates,  their  composition 
and  uses,  275. 

Fulton,  Robert,  first  demon- 
strated the  value  of  the 
torpedo,  110. 

Galleon,  an  early  type  of  war- 
ship, 197. 

Galley,  the  ancient  and  me- 
dieval, as  a  warship,  196; 
the  Greek  type,  as  modified 
in  the  Middle  Ages,  196. 

Gatling,  Dr.  R.  J.,  inventor  of 
an  important  machine  gun, 
155. 

Gatling  gun,  the  machine  gun 
invented  by  Dr.  Gatling, 
155. 

Grape-shot,  description  of,  43. 

Grape-shot  or  canister,  at  long 
range  inferior  to  shrapnel, 

Grappling  with  Disease,  Chap- 
ter XI,  241. 

Greek  fire,  its  relatively  modern 
use,  45. 


Greener,    an    Englishman,    in- 
vents an   improved   bullet, 
38. 
Greener     bullet,     invented     in 

1835,  38. 

"  Ground  mine,"  a  type  of  sub- 
marine mine,  124. 
Grubb  sight,  a  form  of  modern 

gun  sight,  187. 

Gunboat,  a  type  of  small,  un- 
protected modern  cruisers, 
211. 
Gun   carriages,   early  types  of 

naval,  67; 

the  revolution  of,  165; 
use  of  "  plow  "  and  "  spade  " 

to  prevent  recoil,   174. 
Gunpowder,  its  alleged  use  in 

antiquity,  1; 
said  to  have  been  invented  by 

the  Chinese,  2; 
its  explosive  power  tested  by 

Berthelot,   270; 
modern  substitutes  for,  272. 
Gunpowder     and    high    explo- 
sives, 266. 
Gun  Sights  and  Range  Finders, 

Chapter  VIII,   178. 
Gun  sights,  early  types  of,  65; 
thought  by  Lord  Nelson  to 
be  superfluous  on  cannon, 
66; 
different      types      described, 

178; 

modern  types  of,  181; 
recent  types  of,  185. 
Gustavus  Adolphus,   used  can- 
non   wound    with    leather, 
.4; 

his  portable  cannon,  8; 
military  reforms,  11; 
improved  musket,  15. 
Gyroscopic  control  of  the  tor- 
pedo, 113; 
of  the  aeroplane,  300. 

Hall,  John  H.,  American  in- 
ventor of  a  breech-loading 
gun,  79. 

Hammond,  Mr.  J.  H.,  Jr.,  in- 
vents a  radio-controlled 
boat  and  torpedo,  135; 


[308] 


INDEX 


Hammond,  Mr.  J.  H.,  Jr.,  pos- 
sible application  of  his  ap- 
paratus to  aeroplane,  300. 

Hand  cannon,  the  prototype  of 
small  arms,  19. 

Harquebuseer,  name  given  the 
early  musketeer,  20. 

Harvey,  discovers  method  of 
hardening  the  face  of  steel, 
56. 

Harveyed  or  Harveyized  steel, 
its  use  for  armor  plates,  56. 

Hidden,  invents  an  effective 
lock  for  the  cannon,  63. 

Hotchkiss  gun,  a  type  of  ma- 
chine gun,  158. 

Eousatonic,  Federal  ship  tor- 
pedoed in  Charleston  Har- 
bor in  the  Civil  War,  285. 

Howitzer,  a  type  of  short  can- 
non, 260. 

Hydrazoic  acid,  most  powerful 
explosive,  262. 

Hygiene,  as  a  life-saving  agency 
in  warfare,  249. 

India,  enormous  cannon  used 
there  at  an  early  day,  6. 

Indian  warfare,  use  of  the  re- 
volver in,  91. 

Indian  warfare  with  the  Amer- 
ican, 29. 

Inflexible,  British  warship  with 
eighty-ton  guns,  74. 

Introduction  of  Firearms,  The, 
Chapter  I,  1. 

Japanese,  used  torpedo  boats 
effectively  at  Port  Arthur, 
119; 

their  wonderful  application 
of  preventive  medicine  in 
the  Russo-Japanese  War, 
248. 

Kentucky  rifle,  or  long  rifle, 
the,  its  use  in  Revolution- 
ary times,  28; 

its  use  in  Indian  warfare, 
31; 

used  at  King's  Mountain  and 
at  New  Orleans  with  great 
effect,  34. 


Kilpatrick,  General,  demon- 
strates quick  loading  of 
rifle,  32. 

Kitchener,  Lord,  his  use  of  ma- 
chine guns  at  Omdurman, 
156. 

Krag- Jorgensen,  at  one  time  the 
rifle  of  the  American  army, 
105. 

Krupp,  celebrated  German  gun- 
maker,  his  armor  plate,  58. 

Lane,  General  Joseph,  his  ap- 
preciation of  the  revolver, 
92. 

Light  quick-firing  guns,  their 
use  against  the  torpedo 
boats,  144. 

Longridge,  J.  A.,  English  civil 
engineer,  devises  a  wire- 
wound  gun,  150. 

Long  rifle,  or  Kentucky  rifle, 
the,  its  use  in  Revolution- 
ary times,  28. 

Lyddite,  a  powerful  explosive, 
263; 

Lyddite  shell,  its  use  in  the 
Boer  War,  53. 

Machine  gun,  the  evolution  of, 

154; 

used  on  aeroplane,  297. 
Magazine  gun,  development  of, 

96; 
made    possible    by    metallic 

cartridge,  97; 

rifles,  advantages  and  disad- 
vantages of  the  "cut-off," 
103. 
Martini-Henry  rifle,  adopted  by 

England,   84. 
Match-lock,  introduced  in  reign 

of   Henry  VII,    19; 
its  merits  and  defects,  20; 
Match-lock   musket,   or    Gabel- 

musket,  15. 
Maxim,   Sir  Hiram,   invents   a 

machine  gun,  157; 
invents  the  pom-pom,  160. 
Maxim   gun,   the  machine   gun 
invented    by     Sir     Hiram 
Maxim,   157. 


[309] 


INDEX 


"  Mechanical  contact  "  mine,  a 
type  of  submarine  mine, 
124. 

Melinite,  a  powerful  explosive, 
263. 

Merrimac,  the  celebrated  Amer- 
ican   iron-clad,    her    fight 
with  the  Monitor,  200; 
the,  description  of,  202. 

Metallic    cartridge,    an   Ameri- 
can      invention,       early 
adopted  by  Prussia,  82; 
its  effect  on  loading  of  the 

revolver,  94; 
made  possible  the  magazine 

gun,  97; 
for  the  cannon,  139. 

Mexican  War,  Colt's  revolver 
used  in,  90. 

Military  rifles,  Martini-Henry, 
Remington,  and  Spring- 
field, compared,  5. 

Mine;  see  "  Submarine  Mines." 

Mines,  submarine,  their  utility 
and  danger,  121. 

Minie",  a  Frenchman,  invents  a 

conical  bullet,  39; 
bullet,  its  use  in  the  Amer- 
ican Civil  War.  39. 

Mitrailleuse,      many      barreled 
cannon,  its  prototype  was 
the  ribaudequin,  6; 
an    early    type    of    multiple- 
barreled  French  gun,   154. 

Modern  Breech-Loading  Can- 
non, Chapter  VII,  136. 


Musket,  the  primitive  match- 
lock, 15; 

clumsy  early  types  of,  20; 
used  to  disadvantage  against 

the  Indians,  30; 
danger    from    multiple    load- 
ing,   76. 

Musketeers,  gained  importance 
under  Gustavus  Adolphus, 
16. 

Muzzle-loading  cannon,  fatal 
accident  in  loading,  75. 

Napoleon,  preferred  smooth- 
bore to  rifled  guns,  34. 

Naval  Guns  and  Projectiles, 
Progress  in,  Chapter  IV, 
59. 

Naval  gun  carriages,  early 
types  of,  67. 

Navy,  America's  new,  212. 

Needle-gun,  description  of,  81; 

the  Prussian,  its  superiority 

over  the  muzzle-loader,  80. 

Nelson,   Lord,  used   carronades 

on  his  battle  ships,  61; 
considered  sights  superfluous 
on  cannon,  66. 

Nickel  steel,  its  use  for  armor 
plates,  57. 

Nitroglycerin,  the  explosive  ele- 
ment in  dynamite,  269. 

Notch  sight,  a  form  of  gun 
sight,  179. 

"Observation"  mines,  a  type 
of  submarine  mine,  123. 


Modern      Explosives,      Chapter      Omdurman,     use     of     machine 


XII,  259. 

Monitor,  the,  celebrated  Amer- 
ican   iron-clad,    her    fight 
with  the  Merrimac,  200; 
the,   description   of,  204; 
the,    contrasted    with    recent 

war  vessels,  207; 
the,  the  principle  of  its  tur- 
ret  used   on   modern   war- 
ships, 208. 

Monitors,  ships  of  the  Monitor 
type,  214. 

Mortar,  a  short  cannon  of  high 
trajectory;  came  into  use 
in  16th  century,  5. 


guns  in  battle  of,   156. 
Open  sight,  also  called  crotch, 

notch,    and  block   sight,   a 

form  of  gun  sight,  179. 
Ordnance,    heavy   modern,    146. 
Oregon,  the,  a  celebrated  ship 

of    the    Spanish-American 

War,  215. 

Palliser,  Major,  invents  an 
armor-piercing  projectile, 
50. 

Parachute-light  ball,  46. 

Peep  sight,  a  form  of  gun  sight, 
183. 


[310] 


INDEX 


Percussion    cap,    the,    invented      Radio-boat,  boat  controlled  by 


in  1807  by  a  Scotch  clergy- 
man named  Forsyth,  36; 


wireless,   the   invention   of 
J.  H.  Hammond,  Jr.,  135. 


its  revolutionary  influence,  Radio-controlled  torpedo,  the 

invention  of  J.  H.  Ham- 
mond, Jr.,  135. 

Range  finders,  the  principle 
on  which  they  operate, 
189. 

Rapid-fire  gun;  see  also  "Ma- 
chine Gun." 

Rapid-fire  guns,  used  on  aero- 
planes, 297. 


36. 

Philippine  wars,  obsolete  weap- 
ons used  in,  by  American 
army,  100. 

Picric  acid,  a  powerful  explo- 
sive, 263. 

Pikemen,  decreased  in  useful- 
ness as  musketeers  im- 
proved, 16. 


Pillow,  General  Gideon  J.,  his  Rebellion,    War    of,    types    of 
early   appreciation   of   the  guns  used  in,  82. 

revolver,  92.  Recoil  valves,  their  use  in  gun 

Pistol,  early  form  using  wheel 


lock,  21; 
its    alleged    effectiveness    in 

early  warfare,  22; 
introduction  of  the  repeating, 

88; 

defects  of  the  automatic,  96. 
Pom-pom,    a   form   of   machine 

gun  invented  by  Sir  Hiram 

Maxim,    160. 
Port  Arthur,  use  of  torpedoes 

against   Russian   warships 

at,  119. 


carriages,  168. 
Remington,  a  popular  type  of 

gun,  85. 

Repeating  gun  and  pistol,  in- 
troduction of,  88. 
Revolver,  invention  of,  by  Colo- 
nel Samuel  Colt,  88; 
description  of  early  type  of, 

89; 

used  in  Mexican  War,  90; 
the  "double-action,"    93; 
improvements      in      loading 
mechanism,  95. 


Preventive  medicine,  in  modern      Ribaudequin,  an  early  type  of 


warfare,  250. 
Progress    in    Naval    Guns    and 


cannon    with    several    bar- 
rels, 6. 


Projectiles  to  the  Time  of      Rifle,  a  weapon   with   grooved 


the  Breech-loader,  Chapter 
IV,  59. 

Projectile,  armor-piercing,  in- 
vented by  Major  Palliser, 
50; 

has  a  "drift"  due  to  rota- 
tion, 180. 

Projectiles  and  Armor,  Chapter 
III,  41. 

Protected  cruiser,  moderately 
armored  type  of  modern 
warship,  211. 

Prussian  needle-gun,  its  superi- 
ority over  the  muzzle-load- 
er, 80. 


Quick-firing  guns,  different 
types  used  in  the  navy, 
142. 


barrel    used    in    16th    cen- 
tury, 26; 
advantages    and    defects    of, 

27; 
the  long  rifle,   or   Kentucky 

rifle,  28; 
Kentucky,  its  use  in  Indian 

warfare,  31; 
skill    of    frontiersmen    with, 

33; 

discarded   by    Napoleon,    34; 
improved  by  Delvigne,  38; 
made     elongated     projectiles 

effective,  48; 
breech-loading,    why    not    at 

first  popular,  79; 
sporting  versus  military,  83; 
the     Martini-Henry     type, 

adopted  by  England,  84; 


[311] 


INDEX 


Rifle,  the  block-action  type, 
84; 

the  Martini-Henry,  Reming- 
ton, and  Springfield  com- 
pared, 85; 

"  bolt-action "  type  of,  de- 
scribed, 86; 

introduction  of  the  repeat- 
ing, 88; 

the  Winchester  repeating, 
used  by  Turkish  army, 
97; 

Springfield  and  Winchester 
compared,  99; 

changed  from  large  to  small 
caliber,  101; 

Krag-Jorgensen  and  Spring- 
field compared,  105; 

enormous  range  and  pene- 
trating power  of  the  mod- 
ern, 109. 

Rifled  cannon,  introduction  of, 
in  19th  century,  68; 

advantages  of,  69. 
Rocket,  its  early  use,  46. 
Rubin,  Major,  of  Switzerland, 
introduced  small  rifle  bul- 
let,   101. 

Russian  warships,  sunk  by  tor- 
pedoes at  Port  Arthur, 
119. 

Russo-Japanese  War,  use  of 
torpedo  in,  119; 

torpedo  craft  lesson  of,  129; 

decreased  mortality  from  dis- 
in,  243. 


Saber,  made  relatively  useless 
by  percussion  cap,  37. 

Santos-Dumont,  flies  in  dir- 
igible balloon,  in  1901,  292. 

Sevastopol,  Russian  battle  ship, 
and  Japanese  torpedo 
boats,  132. 

Shells,  explosive,  in  use  in  16th 
century,  44. 

Sheridan,  Mr.  H.  C.,  describes 
a  form  of  modern  gun 
sight,  188. 

Shrapnel,  General,  inventor  of 
the  shrapnel  shell,  47. 

Shrapnel,   or   "  spherical   cased 


shot,"    invented    in     18th 
century,  47; 

advantages    of,    over    grape- 
shot  or  canister,  47; 
ideal     projectiles     for     field 

guns,   52. 
Siege   guns,   destructiveness  of 

the  modern,  259; 
the    most    powerful    modern 

types,  259. 

Sights,  gun,  see  "  Gun  Sights." 
Small  Arms,  The  Development 

of,   Chapter  II,   19. 
Small     Arms,     Breech-loading, 

Chapter  V,  78. 

Smokeless  powder,  why  rela- 
tively devoid  of  smoke, 
269; 

different  types  of,  274. 
Snaphaunce,  early  name  of  the 

flint-lock,    22. 

Sovereign  of  the  Seas,  a  cele- 
brated 17th  century  war- 
ship, 198; 

carried  102  brass  cannon,  60. 
Spade,    the    military,    invented 
by  the  American,  General 
Denham,  279; 

the  military,  its  use  in  mod- 
ern warfare,  279. 
Spanish-American    War,    great 
mortality  from  disease  in, 
243. 

Spanish  War,  obsolete  weapons 
used  by  Americans  in,  100. 
Sperry,  Mr.  Elmer  E.,  his  gyro- 
scope-control for  the  aero- 
plane, 300. 
Springfield     rifle,     adopted     in 

American  army,   85; 
compared    with    Winchester, 

99; 
the  new  and  improved  type, 

105. 
Steel  armor,  various  types  of, 

54; 
Harveyed  or  Harveyized,  used 

for  armor  plates,  56; 
nickel,  used  for  armor  plates, 

57; 

Krupp,    its    use    for    armor 
plate,  58. 


[312] 


INDEX 


Submarine  and  Aerial  Warfare, 

Chapter   XIII,  281. 
Submarine    boat,    its    effective- 
ness    in     recent    warfare, 
281; 

sinking  of  the  Aboukir, 
Hogue,  and  Cressy  by, 
283; 

destruction  of  the  gunboat 
Niger  in  the  harbor  at 
Deal  by,  284; 

feat  of  the  British  B-ll,  in 
the  Dardanelles,  284>; 

its  capacities  and  limita- 
tions, 287. 

Submarine  mines,  their  utility 
and  danger,   121; 

their  use  in  the  Russo-Japa- 
nese War,  121; 

the  British  superdread- 
nought  Audacious  de- 
stroyed by,  121; 

used  by  Confederates  in  the 
American  Civil  War,  122; 

different  types  of,  123; 

how  channels  may  be  cleared 
of,  125; 

not  always  effective  against 

submarine  vessels,  284. 
Submarine  torpedoes,  first  used 
by     Americans,     Bushnell 
and   Fulton,    110. 
Superdreadnoughts,     American 
examples  of,  237; 

the  newest  type  of  sea  mon- 
ster, 238. 

Surgery,  the  triumph  of  mod- 
ern, in  warfare,  254. 


Tamura,  Dr.,  of  the  Japanese 

army,     his     comment     on 

modern    military    surgery, 

257. 
Telescope    sights,    as    used    on 

modern  guns,  183. 
Texas,  the  first  battle  ship  of 

the      modern      American 

navy,  214. 
Thirty  Years'  War,  conditions 

of  warfare  during,   10. 
Thunderer,     British     warship, 

bursting  of  gun  on,  75. 

[313] 


Timby,  Dr.  T.  R.,  conceived  the 
idea  of  a  revolving  turret, 
afterwards  adopted  on  the 
Monitor,  204. 

Torpedoes,  Mines,  and  Tor- 
pedo Boats,  Chapter  VI, 
110. 

Torpedo,  first  used  by  the 
Americans,  Bushnell  and 
Fulton,  110; 

the  spar-and-outrigger  type, 
110; 

the  self-propelled  or  locomo- 
tive type,  112; 

danger  of  launching  from 
above  water  line,  115; 

its  extended  use  toward  the 
close  of  the  19th  century, 
116; 

long  range  of,  117; 

Bliss-Leavitt  type  described, 
120; 

controlled  by  wireless,  135. 
Torpedo    boat,    a    modern    de- 
velopment, 127; 

lessons  of  its  use  in  Russo- 
Japanese  War,  129; 

combated     by    light     quick- 
firing  guns,   144. 
Trisidder,      Captain,      invents 
process  for  hardening  sur- 
face of  steel,  55. 
Trotyl,   name   given  a  modern 

explosive,  262. 

Turbine  engine,  its  use  on  small 
war  craft,  129. 

U-9,  designation  of  a  German 

submarine    that    destroyed 

several     British     cruisers, 

282. 
Vesuvius,    an    American    ship 

designed     as      a     counter 

miner,    125 ; 
use     of      aerial      torpedoes, 

125; 
carried    air    guns,    throwing 

500  pounds  of  gun  cotton, 

127. 
Wahrenhorff,  a  Swede,  invents 

the  breech-loading  cannon, 

71. 


INDEX 


Wainwright,  Captain  Richard, 
his  comment  on  the  evolu- 
tion of  the  battle  ship, 
230. 

Warships,  the  different  types 
of  modern,  210. 

Wheel-lock,  used  on  guns  and 
pistols  in  16th  century, 
21. 

Winchester,  repeating  rifle, 
used  by  Turks  in  1877, 
97. 

Winchester   rifle,   has   come  to 
compared    with     Springfield, 
99. 

"  Windage,"  loss  of  energy 
through,  69. 

Wireless    control,    of    torpedo 

boats,  135; 
of  aeroplane,  301. 


Wire-wound  cannon,  its  con- 
struction and  advantages, 
150; 

Wire-wound  gun,  devised  by 
Woodbridge,  Crozier,  and 
Brown,  151. 

fang  Woo,  a  Chinese  ship  sunk 
by  a  French  torpedo,  112. 

"  Yankee  cheese  box,"  name 
given  derisively  to  Erics- 
son's Monitor,  201. 

Zalinski,  Captain,  of  the  U.  S. 
Army,  invents  the  dyna- 
mite gun,  126. 

Zeppelin,  Count,  his  first  suc- 
cessful flight,  292. 

Zeppelin,  the  military  equip- 
ment of  recent  dirigibles 
of  this  type,  296. 


[314] 


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